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Family and community call for accountability after detention-center death; board says corrections outside PAB jurisdiction
Summary
Multiple public commenters, including the sister of Angel Jimenez, urged policy review and accountability after his death in the Calvert County detention center; the board chair and moderator responded that detention-center (corrections) complaints fall outside PAB/ACC jurisdiction and offered to provide legal texts and referrals.
Several members of the public gave emotional testimony about the death of Angel Jimenez at the Calvert County detention center and urged the PAB to investigate and pursue policy changes. Elena Jimenez, identifying herself as the deceased man's sister, told the board her family viewed a video released by the state's attorney's office and described restraints, a restraint chair and her brother’s final words: "I can't breathe, I need oxygen." She told the board the family had waited 11.5 months for information and said the video and circumstances demanded policy and accountability review.
Other commenters pressed the board to consider system-level scrutiny. Joseph Cormier and others asked whether staff actions and restraint-chair use were consistent with safety guidance, raised the risk of positional asphyxia, and urged the PAB to seek policy changes even if corrections staff fall outside the board's statutory purview.
The chair and moderator responded that the Police Accountability Board Act and the county's implementing language limit the board's authority to law-enforcement complaints; the moderator said the corrections employee bill of rights and correctional standards remain in effect and that the PAB's statutory mandate covers law enforcement officers, not detention center staff. Chair said he would provide copies of the county and state law and encouraged families to pursue other available avenues while the board acknowledged the community's concern.
