Central Booking Stories (Baltimore: crime, attorney, house)

[upinflamezzz]

I've been here a few times and have made it upstairs and even over to the State Pen. Central Booking has to be the worst jail in the U.S. Lets share stories.

[emsgoof]

You want to complain about how bad a jail is?

[rudy_d]

I'm glad you didn't have a good experience. I'm pleased that my tax dollars aren't being wasted.

[rockout]

I am sick and tired of paying the salary of ignorant and under educated idiots who work in central booking in the baltimore maryland police dept. I have never in my life experienced such under managed and zoo like conditions. I have never been arrested and never plan on being arrested, however, my brother was arrested for "possible attempt to purchase illegal controlled dangerous substance" only because he was driving down Pennsylvania Ave. in the middle of the afternoon coming home from a job on North Ave. He stopped and asked a young gentleman where Martin Luther King Blvd. was and the young man pointed down the street and said "at the light that is MLK Blvd". That was the extent of the conversation. My brother had to wait to pull back off into traffic and within seconds was pulled over by 4 Baltimore cops and told to get out of the car with his hands up. They searched him and his car (he did give consent for this) and nothing was found. He tried to tell the cops that he was returning home from a job and was simply asking directions. The officer told him that he did not believe him and that he was attempting to purchase narcotics and he was under arrest! My brother was in central booking for 23 hours before he was even offered a phone call. My Mother called the police to report him missing and the police then told my Mom that he had been arrested and was going to see the commissioner on Monday. He was arrested on a Friday. He actually stayed in Central Booking for mearly 70 hours before he was offered a phone call before being taken upstairs to the jail cell holding area for those in need of seeing the commissioner. My Mom and I went up there on Sat. morning to find out what the trouble was and they told us that he wasn't even in the system yet, they were "under staffed and over booked and there were several people arrested over the weekend, therefore there was nothing they could do for us until he was entered into the system" That was the worst experience ever for all of us for my brother especially who had never in his entire life been arrested and did not partake in illegal drug use-EVER....He was fired, subsequently, from his job as a plumber because he was supposed to show up for work that Sat. morning and never did...........his case became a Nolle Pros when he went to court and he had to spend over $2,000.00 on legal fees for his attorney. Also, they had him change his clothes and when he was released they LOST HIS CLOTHING and had to leave central booking with his prisoner clothing on and was told that he had to return the clothing within 48 hours or an arrest warrant would be issued for theft of state property! Imagine that! The attorney we hired told us that central booking in Baltimore City was rated one of the worst managed depts in the entire country. My brother experienced a horrible and horrendous acct.! The officer who arrested him was in court when he went for his arraignment and the Judge asked him "what led you to beleive that he was attempting to purchase a CDS" and the officer said "he was a white male with a black and white bandana on his head who pulled over and talked to a known heroin dealer on the Ave. and he was there for quite some time and we actually saw the drug dealer point his finger in one direction and hand him something with his other hand, although we did not find anything at the time of arrest we were concerned that he may have been alerted when he saw my marked car behind him and he may have swallowed the evidence because we observed him putting his hand up to his mouth which gave us significant reason to arrest him for attempt". The Judge said "if you didn't find evidence and the car had legal tags and he had a valid drivers license then he should not have been arrested this is a nolle pros case and next time bring me evidence if you're looking for a conviction". The cop gave my brother a dirty look and my brother smiled at him....at the end of the court case we were leaving the building and the cop actually said "If I ever see you up there again I will arrest you again" and my brother said "why don't you go arrest a real criminal instead of picking on white boys who are only trying to work for a living, I cannot help where calls come from and I cannot help or chose the locations that I am assigned to, regardless of my race". The cop just kept walking and smirked. He was a total *******. Since then my brother has taken another job as a plumber in the city of Baltimore and he refuses to drive down ennsylvania Ave regardless of what time of day it is because of the experience he had. Central booking is a zoo and I am sick and tired of my tax dollars paying idiots to answer telephones and sit behind a desk with a pen and think they are something better than everyone who rolls through there.

[rockout]

may I also ad the the zoo in central booking that they were extremely rude to my Mother and I who were simply trying to find out where my brother was.....they essentially told us that we didn't have any rights and there was information that they did not have access to and that if he was not offered a phone call yet then there was nothing they could do about it because everyone wants to use the phone! Well excuse me, but, if someone is arrested I believe it is the law to offer them a phone call within a reasonable period of time, even if it has to be a collect phone call. He went 71 hours and had already seen the commissioner before he was even offered a phone call. In fact, he had to ask the receptionist in the commissioners office to use the phone and she said "you were not able to use the phone in central" and he said "no mam". her response was hideous..she said "I hear this all the time and I have reported it to the commissioner and I have also reported in writing to the manager of central booking and they still continue to do the same thing this is really getting out of hand because we are not supposed to allow a person arrested to use our phones, however, if you give me the name and number of who you are trying to contact I will do so for you right now while you are standing here, if they do not answer the phone and a message machine or voice mail comes on I will allow you to leave the message. When he called my Mom's house my father answered the phone and the receptionist very politely told my father what was happening and my father replied "My wife is already there with my daughter waiting to post his bail or drive him home" and the receptionist said "he was released on his own recognance so there is no bail to pay they only have to pick him up and drive him home, however, it still may be a little while, probably a few hours before he is released because we have to send the paper work back to central booking where they can release him" and my father said "thank you". So really, my brother was not ever even offered a phone call and he never did get the chance to call any of us! So thank goodness for missing persons reports or we would have probably had heart failure for 3 long days before my brother could let us know what happened. Also, his car was impounded and because of the length of time he was in central booking it cost him nearly $600.00 to get his car out of the impound lot because they did not open until Monday AM and they still charged for Sunday! That money and the money it cost him for legal fees can never be recovered all because some smart ass cop thought he would arrest a white man for stopping and asking a black man for directions on the side of the road in a "known drug dealing area". Unbeleiveable.........baltimore cops need to pay more attention to the real crime that happens on the streets and not just react so harshly on something that supported no evidence. That arrest, even though a nolle pros is on his record and he has never been arrested before. It just may alter his ablility for certain employment in the future and that is actually an example of an innocent American who has been injured life long by the police dept. for a false arrest........now can someone tell me how that can happen in this country that we all pay taxes in and that we all depend on the legal system to aid us and not injure us? Especially with the ignorance of the cop who arrested him even after the court hearing! Maybe there is a reason that cops are under paid! I believe they should be paid what they are worth and that cop wasn't worth two pennies for a two week pay roll!

[Pissed Off 2011]

not that I'm proud of having to admit that I was arrested for traspassing, but Central Booking Intake center is terrible and I will ad that it has alot too do w/ the leadership in place there. The officers allow their subordnates to run the show, and about 80% of them are just high school grads this being their 1st real jobs. They all generaly live in baltimore city, and come from messed up house holds themselve w/ little home training. That place is terrible

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

A friend of a friend spent over 48 hours there there last New Year's Eve. Hopefully it had some effect on his behavior.

[warhawk1971]

I just got home from Central Booking.I dont wana make this long ,but lets just say i was there because of a improper ez pass,they sent me a letter saying i owed 2000 dollars,which i know i dont.I spoke with a super finally after repeat calls to the Md trans athourity,another joke.anyhow the super told me they would handle it.which they didnt.so i was pulled over for supended tags.So when i contected them again they assured me they would handle it,i asked well do i still have to go to court even though this is a mistake.I was told no,and that they would remove the charge.well never the less court date came and of course i was not there,so now i had a falure to appear.,so that issued a bench warrent..I went to my local police station to handle it,and because it was Patapsco court house that makes it Balto.City .So now i have to be placed under arrest in Central Booking.I dont wana get in to all the details there,because it was a herrible nightmare.I think everyone who works there ought to be placed through the same system and process that they put eveybody eles though.Than the building should be destroyed.I was put threw this hell for the entire weekend.I wouldnt wish that place on my worst eniemy.

[bawlmr]

Why am I not surprised that there is a thread where Baltimorons complain about jail?

[bmoregrimey]

this really isnt a central booking story per se but really a police story. i remember one day i was hanging out with friends in a pretty bad neighborhood...people were selling drugs and gambling in dice games. but my friend and i were minding our own business sitting on the steps and the cops arrested us for nothing, he said we were trespassing but i dont understand how, since it was my friends neighborhood...like how can u trespass in your own neighborhood? anyway the cop cuffs us and has the paddy wagon take us to central booking. upon entering central booking i notice huge sign that reads welcome back! im like are u kidding me...i heard about this sign before but i though it was an exaggeration...has anyone else seen this sign