Meeting between Baltimore County officials and corrections director violated transparency law, county attorney says

A portion of a meeting between four Baltimore County councilmembers and the county’s corrections director about conditions for youth at the county jail was in violation of the Maryland Open Meetings Act, County Attorney James Benjamin said Thursday. During a virtual meeting on March 17, Director of Corrections Walt Pesterfield told Chairman Julian Jones Jr. of Woodstock and councilmembers Pat Young of Catonsville, Izzy Patoka of Pikesville, and Mike Ertel of Towson, all Democrats, that some allegations of squalid conditions for youth inmates at the Baltimore County Detention Center were false or only partially true, according to the councilmembers and Pesterfield.