Baltimore had big plans for helping formerly incarcerated people. They’re not panning out

A key piece of Mayor Brandon Scott’s approach to stemming the city’s high rate of violent crimes has been investing in resources for returning citizens who were formerly incarcerated in local jails or state prisons. But the city’s flagship program to accomplish that work has gotten off to a slow start. Since a “soft launch” in the spring of last year, the “Returning Citizens Behind the Wall” program, which connects formerly incarcerated people with jobs doing manual labor for the city’s recreation and parks department at $15 an hour, has helped only 103 participants, according to an update from the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement provided to the City Council’s public safety committee on Wednesday.