"The statute is very hard to use because of its ambiguous language," said Jessamy, who is leading the push for tougher anti-gang laws. "We find ourselves defending the law more than using it."

Civil liberties groups and public defenders are opposing new anti-gang legislation, which they say would fill already crowded state prisons at a time when legislative analysts have suggested reducing incarceration as a cost-cutting measure. They say prevention and intervention are more effective ways to combat gangs.

Justin Fenton write about new safeguards being put in place to help prevent inmates from escaping. Last week, a man serving three consecutive life terms managed to switch IDs with a cellmate who was being released, sparking a manhunt and raising questions about procedures.

Rick Binetti, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said the agency plans to begin using portable fingerprint scanning machines called "Fast ID" as an extra safeguard during the release process. State law enforcement agencies have been using the $1,500 portable machines in recent years, allowing officers to check fingerprints while in the field.

The first correctional facility to get the machine is the Maryland Reception, Diagnostics and Classification Center, which Binetti said Tuesday has begun handling inmate releases and transfers for the city instead of the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center, where the mistaken release occurred.

Remember when The Sun wrote about a panel formed by the legislature to look at sex offender laws that never met? Well, that's not the only oversight panel created amid fanfare that was never actually put to use - a Department of Juvenile Services panel never got off the ground, either.

And Tricia Bishop gives a full story on the guilty verdicts in the ever-strange starvation death of a 16-month-old boy who refused to say "amen" before meals while living with alleged members of an East Baltimore cult.