The Maryland Board of Public Works last week approved a $185,000 settlement for a man who was held in solitary confinement for nearly a year with little legal basis and without access to out-of-cell exercise or outdoor recreation.

The spending board approved the settlement for Samuel Smalls at its Nov. 5 meeting without discussion, despite the state winning at the pretrial motions stage in Maryland U.S. District Court , where Smalls represented himself.

The state did not challenge his appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; the two sides repeatedly extended the state’s deadline to respond as they negotiated a settlement.

Smalls was held in solitary confinement at Eastern Correctional Institution , in Somerset County, from August 2022 to June 2023 after he fac

See Full Page