State Agencies

responsibilities under the Department of Public
Safety and Correctional Services. Thus, by virtue
of this Act the Department of Correctional Ser-
vices was refilled and reestablished as the Divi-
sion of Correction and continued as the same de-
partment in its capacity of exercising central
administrative control over the adult correctional
facilities in Maryland as provided in Art. 27, Sec-
tions 667-726, subject to the authority of the Sec-
retary of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
The same act also abolished the Advisory Board
of the Department of Correction, the Advisory
Board of the Division of Parole and Probation,
and the Advisory Council for Correctional Ser-
vices (Code 1957, Art. 41, secs. 204D and 204E).

In accordance with the provisions of Chapter
401, Acts of 1970, the Commissioner of Correc-
tion is appointed by the Secretary of Public Safe-
ty and Correctional Services with the approval of
the Governor and by and with the consent and
advice of the Senate. The Commissioner is in sole
and active charge of the Division of Correction
and of its several institutions and agencies, sub-
ject only to his responsibility to the Secretary of
Public Safety and Correctional Services and to
the Governor (Code 1957, Art. 27, secs. 673-674).

The staff of the Division of Correction plans,
establishes, and directs programs of administra-
tion for the various correctional facilities. The in-
stitutions carry on a program of classification, ed-
ucation, vocational training, employment, and the
other segments of rehabilitative treatment.

Chapter 695, Acts of 1967, provided that all
criminals sentenced after June 1, 1967, be com-
mitted to the Division of Correction, formerly the
Department of Correctional Services, and autho-
rized the Department to establish receiving and
classification centers for prisoners. On June 1,
1967, the Department established a Reception
Center at the Maryland Penitentiary for male in-
mates and a Reception Center at the Maryland
Correctional Institution for Women—Jessup, for
female inmates. After diagnostic evaluation and
classification, the inmate is then assigned to one
of the institutions of the Division (Code 1957,
Art, 27, sees. 689 (g), 690, 691-700 (a), 701-702).

By Chapter 285, Acts of 1963, the Work Re-
lease Law was established (Code 1957, Art. 27,
sec. 700A). The Work Release Program allows
prisoners sentenced to an institution under the ju-
risdiction of the Division of Correction to leave
actual confinement during necessary and reason-
able hours for the purpose of working at gainful
employment in the State and to return to the in-
stitution at the end of the work day. Chapter

Public Safety and Correctional Services/253

551, Acts of 1968, extended this privilege to in-
clude attendance at school as part of a Work Re-
lease Program. Recent amendments provide that
the Commissioner of Correction may authorize
under certain conditions special leave for the pur-
pose of seeking employment, and further that in-
dividuals or small groups of prisoners may leave
confinement to participate in special community
programs for rehabilitation. Provision is also
made for granting weekend leaves under certain
conditions by Chapter 448 and Chapter 449, Acts
of 1969 (Code 1957, Art. 27, secs. 700A and
700C).

The institutions and pre-release units have well-
developed programs of employment. Inmates are
assigned to a wide variety of institutional mainte-
nance tasks, as well as to the diversified State Use
Industries Program. Opportunities for the devel-
opment and reactivation of useful and economi-
cally profitable occupational skills are available.
The programs also provide necessary goods and
services to the public agencies eligible to purchase
them. Several of the institutions operate laun-
dries, which serve both the institutions and other
State agencies and institutions.

Educational activities include academic instruc-
tion on both elementary and secondary school lev-
els, varied opportunities for advanced and special-
ized study, including programmed instruction in
the various pre-release facilities in preparation for
obtaining high school equivalency certificates, and
programs of vocational and on-the-job training.

With the amendment set forth in Chapter 539,
Acts of 1976, an educational coordinating council
for correctional institutions under the jurisdiction
of the Department of Public Safety and Correc-
tional Services was created. The Commissioner of
Correction is a member of this council. The coun-
cil, for administrative and budgetary purposes, is
within the State Department of Education. The
council is responsible for developing and recom-
mending the educational programs to be conduct-
ed in each correctional institution, taking into ac-
count the special needs and circumstances of the
inmates in the institution. The law provided that
from and after July 1, 1978, funds for the opera-
tion of the educational programs in correctional
institutions shall be provided in the State budget
for the State Department of Education. The De-
partment of Public Safety and Correctional Ser-
vices and other State departments may contribute
to these programs as provided in the State bud-
get. The Director of Educational Programs is
appointed by the Secretary of Public Safety and
Correctional Services (Education Article, secs.
22-101, 102).