From tomorrow's Sun: 

A Maryland Senate panel will ask the Department of Juvenile Services secretary to brief them on the death of a teacher last week at a state juvenile facility in prince George’s County, as other agencies and the union that represents employees said they have been blocked from making inquiries.

“We need answers, and we need them right away,” said Sen. C. Anthony Muse, a Prince George’s Democrat who asked the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee to send an inquiry to DJS Secretary Donald W. DeVore.

The body of 65-year-old Hannah WheelingÖ, of Bel Air, was discovered Friday morning by other employees at Cheltenham Youth Facility. Wheeling was partially clothed and had been assaulted, and sources say a 13-year-old has been identified as the suspect and moved to a facility in Western Maryland. State police said Tuesday no arrests had been made, and refused to release the initial incident report.

At Muse’s request, the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee will ask DeVore to address the committee as soon as possible and also to provide security plans for all of the state-run juvenile facilities by the April 12 end of the legislative session.

Muse said he was also concerned that state monitors have been unable to access the facility to begin their investigations. In addition to state police and the juvenile services department, the Attorney General’s juvenile justice monitoring unit and the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health must conduct separate probes of the incident, but have not been able to get started, officials said.

“Our investigation looks not at whether a crime was committed or who might have committed that crime, but what kinds of either facility-related or systemic issues may have contributed to the incident,” said Marlana Valdez, director of the monitoring unit. “Because there is at least a potential for staffer/youth safety to still be compromised, we need to begin our investigation.”

The union that represents staff at the detention facility also said they had been prohibited from discussing with staff the incident and issues related to it.

“The place is still locked down, and the staff are pretty upset and scared,” said Maryland Professional Employees Union president George Myers.