2023 Year End Review
As the year comes quickly to a close, it is important to us as a team to take a step back and honor our accomplishments of 2023. We would like to thank your donors for allowing us to expand the reach of our work and our partners for their trust and for being in community with us this year. Let’s take a moment to acknowledge the wins of 2023:
2023 Accomplishments:
Celebrating our first full year as a 501c3!
In 2022, we announced our status as a 501c3 organization. This year, we celebrate our first year as an independent non-profit organization! Celebrating this milestone would be incomplete without celebrating the completion of our first audit (phew)!
We provided free legal services to 187 clients.
This is 112 more than we served last year! This number is not representative of the number of expunged cases or warrant recalls we performed in 2023 as some clients come to us with multiple requests. The only way we were able to provide these services for free is thanks to our donors’ steadfast support.
We welcomed a paralegal to the team!
We are thrilled to welcome our new paralegal, Jamie Grace Alexander, to the team! As we work to build capacity, expanding our team has been of utmost importance and we are honored to have such an experienced and passionate new addition to BALT.
We were privileged to welcome 4 interns through our Summer and Fall internship programs.
Our interns were given the opportunity to work closely with our Legal Director and Community Lawyer to conduct legal research and learn the ropes of record expungement and warrant recall. We would like to thank all of our past interns for their dedication to BALT and our community.
We hosted our second Movement Lawyering workshop.
Through this free multi-day, hybrid workshop, we facilitated the unlearning of cultural norms within the legal profession which stem from white supremacy while building the capacity of legal workers to engage in movement lawyering in their community.
We went to New Orleans with partner organizations.
We had the pleasure of visiting New Orleans in July with our partner organizations Detroit Justice Center, Law for Black Lives, Palestine Legal, and Community Justice Program.
We participated in two days of programing at the PJI office where our interns discussed and had workshops on abolition, Anti-Capitalism and Economic equality, Anti-Global Imperialism and Cross Border Solidarity with Palestine Legal, and movement lawyering
We have been honored to participate in the following coalitions and organize with the following partners this year:
Coalitions: Maryland Coalition for Justice and Police Accountability (MCJPA), Campaign for Justice, Safety & Jobs (CJSJ), Coalition for a Safe and Just Maryland (CSJM), Maryland Youth Justice Coalition (MYJC), BRIDGES Coalition (BRIDGES), Trans Rights Advocacy Coalition (TRAC)
Partners: Out for Justice (OFJ), Citizens’ Policing Project (CPP), Helping Oppressed People Excel (HOPE), Penn North Recovery Center (Penn North)
We got out in the community to provide direct services and education with our partners:
We partnered with Liberty’s Promise to engage youth around knowing their rights in a police interaction.
We provided direct services and information at the following community events: Penn North, Opportunity Avenue, OFJ Night Clinic, Ten City, CPP Juneteenth, Donnell’s Day
Litigation wins:
In September the Maryland Supreme Court ruled Baltimore Police Department’s denial of Open Justice Baltimore’s fee waiver request was arbitrary and capricious. As a result, the Court ordered BPD to reconsider, with the Court’s new direction, whether releasing the files and waiving the fee is within the public’s interest. This ruling comes after four years of litigation on behalf of OJB by BALT’s Legal Director, Matthew Zernhelt.
The end of the year brings with it a time of reflection. While we take time to slow down after a busy holiday season, we reflect upon the lessons we can take with us from the past year.
Reflections:
We are still here. We are proud to have completed our first full year as an independent nonprofit. This is no small feat considering the fact that we started as a volunteer organization and transitioned into a small but mighty team.
It's hard out here. especially for nonprofits that don't do the "safe and neat" work that funders love. Despite not getting huge endowments, we still place ourselves in the exact spot to serve the community. The funds donated to us are swiftly and directly invested into our community.
BALT will do its best to remain adaptive and responsive to the community as we have done in 2023.
Thank you for supporting and following our work in 2023. We wish you a successful and empowering 2024. If you would like to ensure BALT is able to continue our growth into the new year, please consider donating to our Year End Giving Campaign.
Happy holidays and a safe and happy 2024,
The BALT Team
Maryland Supreme Court rules in BALT and OJB’s favor- BPD’s fee waiver denial was arbitrary and capricious.
Baltimore, MD— On Thursday, September 1, 2023, the Maryland Supreme Court ruled Baltimore Police Department’s denial of Open Justice Baltimore’s fee waiver request was arbitrary and capricious. As a result, the Court ordered BPD to reconsider, with the Court’s new direction, whether releasing the files and waiving the fee is within the public’s interest.
This ruling comes after four years of litigation on behalf of OJB by BALT’s Legal Director, Matthew Zernhelt. OJB requested the $245,670 fee for public records investigating BPD’s use of force be waived, to which BPD unreasonably denied.
In the opinion, Justice Johnathan Biran writes “a denial of a fee waiver, after concluding that it would be in the public interest, would necessarily be an arbitrary and capricious administrative action” and that the denial of the waiver would exacerbate public controversy and contribute to a lack of transparency.
“An arbitrary fee wall prevents accountability. BPD cannot demand unreasonable fees for the community to get a window into how police misconduct is being handled,” states Zernhelt.
Justice Biran stated that BPD “should have included consideration of whether the records would shed light on that controversy” and that BPD’s reasoning for denying the fee waiver request was rendered moot.
BPD’s initial argument was that OJB’s reasoning for public purpose was too “vague” to discern if disclosure would benefit the public. We are heartened that the Court found that due to public controversy concerning BPD misconduct, “the public interest purpose that would be served by disclosure of the closed use of force investigation files was plainly apparent.”
BPD’s argument that OJB could pay the fees was found fundamentally at odds as the MPIA imposes no burden on the requestor to demonstrate their inability to pay.
The court was not satisfied with BPD’s argument that the files would be too heavily redacted to make sense to the public, stating “We will not sustain an MPIA fee waiver denial based on mere conclusory statements.”
The ball is now in BPD’s court and we urge BPD to act in good faith and prioritize transparency. We will continue to work to support community members fighting for justice to move power back into the community.
The People's Commission To Decriminalize Maryland is coming to a close.
Baltimore, Maryland– The People’s Commission to Decriminalize Maryland will be closing out their work as a collective in Spring 2023. We are proud of the commission’s accomplishments over the past four years and feel optimistic that the future of decriminalization efforts in Maryland is bright.
When the commission formed in 2019, we hoped to amplify the work of our partners and raise awareness of the ways Maryland’s Criminal Code could be amended to cause less harm to our loved ones and community members. The commission presented a different way to think about justice advocacy in Maryland by looking at how status offenses were affecting our community members.
Over these past four years, The People’s Commission has brought awareness of the importance of decriminalizing the status of Maryland’s most marginalized populations through education and advocacy. With the support of our partners, the People’s Commission completed a survey of Maryland’s Criminal Code and published our findings. Over the 2021 and 2022 legislative session, we collectively submitted over 20 pieces of testimony in support of decriminalization efforts surrounding youth justice, drugs and paraphernalia, bodily autonomy and the unhoused population.
The work of the commission’s work groups will be continued by partner organizations as several new and robust coalitions have formed in the past year. Progressive Maryland now heads the Statewide Drug Decriminalization Coalition and will be addressing how we ensure Maryland’s new cannabis laws provide reparations for harms targeting Black neighborhoods. The Job Opportunities Task Force will continue to lead on issues of poverty criminalization, including introducing bills that seek to end fines and fees imposed by courts that unduly burden those without financial resources. The Maryland Youth Justice Coalition has been reestablished and will continue the fight to ensure that the recommendations made by the Juvenile Justice Reform Council are implemented. Finally, we are encouraged by the newly formed Trans Rights Advocacy Coalition, which has already made strides in addressing issues of bodily autonomy for Maryland residents.
These past four years of The People’s Commission have been an inexplicably rewarding experience. It has been an honor to support a community of partners whose passion for decriminalizing Maryland shines through all aspects of the work. We are confident in the abilities of our partners and coalitions that will continue to work towards a more just and equitable Maryland.
BALT 2022 Wrap-Up!
Now that we have made it to 2023, BALT is taking the opportunity to take a step back and honor our many accomplishments of 2022. In many ways, BALT's accomplishments this year are accomplishments of our community at large. The milestones we have reached this year are wins for everyone who has read and shared our reports, attended our workshops to deepen their understanding of the mission, donated anything they could to support loved ones who are not yet free and those who placed their trust in us in a time of vulnerability. Let’s together take a moment to look back on the growth we have made, the lessons we have learned, and the mountains we have moved in 2022.
2022 Accomplishments:
Relaunched Lawyer Up! education series with sessions covering attorney ethics, pretrial system, parole and probation system, and parenthood in the courts.
This year, thanks to the work of our Community Lawyer, we have expanded our direct services to providing expungement and warrant recall services. Since February BALT has served over 75 community members providing 58 expungements and 32 warrant recall services to community members.
Launched our Right2Access website to spread education around MPIA and Anton’s Law and update the public in our fight for access to public information.
Released our first ever billboard demanding State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby follow court ruling and give the public the full list of police with integrity issues.
Published the 2019 Pretrial Data report
Published our MPIA Guide
Translated our website to Spanish along with our MPIA Guide and 2019 Pre-Trial Report with the help of Jamii linguistics.
We were honored to receive the following grants: NAACP, OSI, Kaiser, Borealis, Annie E. Casey
Won the full list of police officers with integrity issues and published it to our Right2Access website, because officer accountability is undeniably within the public interest.
Published our first zine. Read Cannabis Legalization in Maryland: A Handbook here!
Hosted the Movement Lawyering Workshop to develop tools and knowledge to resist and dismantle systemic racism and oppression in the legal field.
Published the data dashboard to our Right2Access website to provide more information around the officers on the SAO’s list.
Became a 501c3 and established a founding board.
Reached our Giving Tuesday goal of $5,000 by the end of November.
Developed our strategic plan and theory of change during our retread facilitated by The Word Woman LLC.
Sent our staff and interns to the Law For Black Lives conference in St. Louis.
Provided 6 pretrial bails and 1 immigration bond to members of our community.
We are honored to have been a part of a number of historic legislative wins:
Implementation of Anton’s Law- Increased transparency on police misconduct records
Passed Child Interrogation Protection Act (SB53)- Kids are now guaranteed council before police questioning.
Passed Juvenile Justice Reform omnibus bill (HB459)- Expands the ability of the Department of Juvenile Services to offer intervention/services to kids and divert from detention.
Litigation Action of 2022:
Wins
We had a successful case in the Appellate Court of Maryland forcing the District Court of Maryland to disclose the identity of District Court Commissioners.
We won our case in Circuit Court seeking active employees of BPD with integrity issues. The court held that BPD knowingly and willfully violated the Maryland Public Information Act.
Our Circuit Court case with the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection filed against BPD settled, forcing them to disclose the history of Public Information Act (PIA) treatment towards a broad spectrum of PIA requesters and to change recording practices moving forward.
In the Appellate Court of Maryland, we won a years worth of BPD misconduct investigations and are currently fighting to keep this win before the Supreme Court of Maryland.
Filings:
We filed a follow up action against the Office of the State’s Attorney after our appellate win against them last year forcing broader disclosures. This was then settled in a favorable MOU that will disclose investigations into police misconduct whether those officers are or are not charged.
Filed a jury trial against BPD for attempts to infringe upon Anton's Law through new practice of denying fee waivers.
We filed a case against BPD in the Federal Court arguing First Amendment violations discriminating against the release of records of accountability based on who is requesting and what the records contain.
Filed as counsel in a Montgomery County Case with Vanderbilt Law Clinic.
Readied filings to advocate to obtain new initiatives for 2023.
The end of the year brings with it a time of reflection. While we take time to slow down after a busy holiday season, it’s important to reflect upon what has worked and what hasn’t and the lessons we can take with us from the past year.
Reflections:
People’s Commission closing:
After four years of operation, The People’s Commission to Decriminalize Maryland will be closing out their work. We are proud of the work that the commission has accomplished and are excited to see what will come next for decriminalization efforts in Maryland.
Over the past four years, The People’s Commission has contributed to educating partners on the importance of decriminalizing the status of our most marginalized populations, as well as introducing the concept to the Maryland State legislature through educational briefings, legislator meetings, and testimony. The People’s Commission completed a comprehensive survey of Maryland’s Criminal Code. Through the support of our partners, we submitted over 20 pieces of testimony over the 2021 and 2022 legislative session in support of decriminalization efforts surrounding youth justice, drugs and paraphernalia, bodily autonomy and the unhoused population.
It has been a rewarding experience to work with such a large and diverse group of partners and we are so pleased to be able to pass the mantle to this next generation of coalitions that will continue the work.
In April, we announced the closing of our Cells to Safety Campaign. This was not an easy decision. We began our Cells to Safety Campaign in early 2020 due to an increased use of electronic monitoring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Community residents were faced with the decision of going to jail or paying private home detention companies $300-$400 a month to be placed on home monitoring.
We are proud to have spent $300,000 to those in need of financial assistance for electronic monitoring fees, allowing us to cover folks until February of 2022.
We remain legislatively active in this issue. Last year SB704 Conditions of Pretrial release passed
extending coverage to June 2023. This important bill ensures that loved ones who cannot afford electronic monitoring fees awaiting trial are not paying $300-$500 a month for private home detention.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you:
Clients, for placing your trust in us in times of vulnerability. Thank you.
Donors, for your generosity and unwavering commitment to justice.
Partner organizations, for being steadfast team mates in the fight for a better Baltimore:
Out for Justice
Citizens’ Policing Project
Helping Oppressed People Excel
Penn North Recovery Center
Movement Lawyering Workshop facilitators, for bringing your expertise and passion to our workshop and contributing to a successful workshop:
Alexis Ojeda-Brown
Lynn McCann
Elizabeth Ling
Rafa Kidvai
Em Lawler
Nicole Hanson-Mundell
Ray Kelly
Nikki Thanos
Rachel Foran
Colin Starger
James Kilgore
Emmett Sanders
Thank you for being a part of our 2022. We are honored to do the work we do and are looking forward to a successful 2023. If you would like to support the work we do, we encourage you to donate. We cannot continue to provide the direct services and actions we do without support from our network.
BALT files complaint with Inspector General regarding Law Department for obstructing police accountability
On Sept. 8, 2022 Baltimore Action Legal Team filed a complaint with the Baltimore City Office of the Inspector General. This filing comes after yet another glaring revelation of bad faith on the part of the Baltimore City Law Department.
In BALT’s recent case filing, 21 incidents of obstruction were recorded against the Law Department. This comes after BALT requested a year’s worth of internal investigations into police misconduct where the Law Department valued about 3000 responsive records at over $1.3 million.
Maryland law states that records that are of a public interest are to be granted a fee waiver. The Law Department waived an arbitrary $700k of costs to claim it had waived fees; they then violated the law by denying the waiver of the remaining $600k for reproduction of records benefiting public interest.
Per Law Department practice, BALT was forced to take BPD to court to obtain public disclosure. Just days before a court hearing, BPD responded that their initial response was an error and there were only about 1000 responsive records. This is nine months after an accurate and official accounting of records responsive to BALT’s request was due.
BALT responded that the initial fee waiver of over half the original costs should certainly cover what is now a third of the work, meaning the Law Department would have to turn over the records to the public at no cost. The Law Department quickly and without reason withdrew the $700k fee waiver, showing they never intended to grant a fee waiver, make the records available, or disclose any records to begin with.
As a result of a settlement agreement from a lawsuit earlier this year, BPD provided BALT data on costs and delay times for productions like the records BALT requested. The disclosure of body worn camera [BWC] footage made up more than 75% of the requests in the data provided and serves as one of a few means to monitor officers’ actions prior to Anton’s Law.
The data shows that of BWC records requests, attorneys averaged higher costs though they wait the same amount of time for records as other non government entities. Law enforcement requesting records do not have to pay and receive their records in about a third of the time. This was extracted from the only significant and usable data provided by BPD from the same three month period in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
“The amount of time it took for BWC requests to be fulfilled for Attorneys and Non-Government entities on average took about three times as long as BWC footage requested by Law Enforcement and State Agencies. This causes us to wonder why such a disparity in cost and time exists among different types of requesters in order to access the same information,” says BALT Data Analyst Vida Fye.
It is our belief in filing this complaint that Inspector General Isabel Cumming will see the facial abuse and disregard of the law by the Law Department and work with us toward accountability.