Annapolis, MD (March 28, 2008)-County Executive John R. Leopold has today asked Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler to take the steps authorized by Maryland law to halt the construction of the Oak Hill Youth Detention Facility located in the Russett/Maryland City area of Anne Arundel County. "The County Office of Law has advised me that existing State law prohibits another state or the District of Columbia from constructing or locating a juvenile correction facility of any kind within Maryland without the prior written approval of the Maryland Secretary of Juvenile Services," said County Executive Leopold in a letter to Gansler. "To the best of my knowledge, this construction was undertaken without the approval of the Secretary of Juvenile Services." "Construction began on the detention facility last September without notification to County officials," said County Executive Leopold. "I have been advised that it is the Attorney General’s office that can file suit to halt construction of the new Oak Hill Facility, and I have urged the Attorney General to do so." With a history of both public and government scrutiny for its deplorable conditions, Oak Hill Youth Detention Facility was built in 1967 and is a maximum-security center that currently houses approximately 60 juvenile inmates, from ages 14 to 21, from the District of Columbia. | 
