The current supervisor of the Harford County Detention Center, Major Michael Capasso, will retire from the Harford County Sheriff’s Office effective April 1, he announced in an e-mail to the agency late Tuesday afternoon.
Capasso is a 25-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office who spent his entire tenure at the detention center. He took over supervisory duties at the facility in December, following the retirement of Warden Elwood DeHaven. At the time of DeHaven’s retirement, Sheriff Jesse Bane said no new warden would be named to the position due to economic reasons and a desire to restructure the agency’s operations.
In confirming Capasso’s retirement plans, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Monica Worrell declined to specify plans for future leadership of the jail pending further internal agency discussions.
Capasso was promoted to major in February 2011 to serve as assistant warden. Worrell said Capasso did not specify a reason for his retirement in his message to the agency, and was not aware whether he might be in line to take over as warden, a civilian position. DeHaven retired as a major in early 2007 to take the position of warden at Bane’s appointment. Capasso himself was not immediately available for comment.
The change of command will be the detention center’s second in just over four months, and comes after two deaths connected to the jail during that time.
Christopher Kelly, 21, of Street was found hanging from a bunk in his cell in a direct supervision unit Jan. 14, and was transported to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, where he died Jan. 21. Michael R. Malpass, 26, of North East was found unresponsive in his cell late Thanksgiving night, Nov. 24.
The state medical examiner’s office determined Malpass’ cause of death to be due to natural causes from complications from chronic drug abuse, including acute renal insufficiency and sepsis, according to a report from the office. While incarcerated at the Harford County Detention Center, Malpass had been on 15-minute medical watch due to issues with detoxing from the intravenous use of heroin.
Capasso was The Dagger’s guide on two walk-throughs of the jail in late 2010 and early 2011.
Maj. Michael Capasso, reflected in one of the detention center’s corner mirrors.
Major Mike Capasso, thank you for your service of 25+ years. I wish you success in any of your future endeavors, or just to enjoy retirement. The Officers and Employees at the HCDC will miss your presence there.
I’m sure the legend will continue…very soon
What kind of legend will continue? What’s that mean? Does anyone know if all the negative stuff going on at the DC is the reason Major Capasso is leaving?
” RIPieces”
Bobbie P,
retiredawhile is suggesting that Major Cappasso is retiring so he can be appointed to warden, which is a civilian position appointed by the sheriff.
JK
Didn’t the Sheriff say when Warden Dehaven retired, that he was not going to appoint another civilian warden? So now he is going to do what he said he was not going to do! When should we believe what this Sheriff has to say?
The Sheriff can’t remember what he did this morning…
Who is running the day to day operations at the Detention Center? No Warden, Major Capasso gone, who is in charge?
the inmates
The same person that has been making all of the decisions for the Detention Center for the last couple years: Sheriff Bane. I like the “inmates” comment because their complaints and needs do seem to take priority over staff but we will continue to deal with it as we always have. It is a little disheartening to see our facility turn into Harford County’s own Costa Concordia where the ships captain(in our case a warden and major) are now watching the ship sink safely from the shore line.
A scary thought, Jesse Bane making the day to day decisions for jail operations. He knows even less about running a jail than he does a policing operation.
I heard he is firing people at the DC. Seems there is more to the story than what the public has been told about the inmate who died from heroin withdrawal.
I sure hope the new warden can keep the drugs out this time. I understand from many they got hooked on pills while in there.I wonder if this is retirement enhancement at its core.
Also check Annapolis and how they are passing a bill to give inmates free certificates, AA Degrees and Bachelor Degress while reducing their sentences after completion. The kicker: if a rapist rapes someone under 18 they cannot get a reduced sentence? But if the victim is over 18 they can? Really! This is the current argument taking place in Annapolis! The tax payers will ultimately foot this Bill.Smarter criminals get caught less? Go to Jail and get a college degree nice.
The US has the largest incarceration rate of any other country (so much for the land of the free). It appears that locking people up and treating them like animals is not working. I would support any effort that shifts the focus from punishment to rehabilitation and education is the key to making that happen. The two deaths mentioned above are examples of the failure of the justice system. One of them was on a 15 min. watch…how can that happen? It happens because our law enforcement is more interested in beating people instead of helping them.
Because the 15 min patrol wasnt done.
If anything, the man died because he did not receive adequate and appropriate medical care. Even if he had been checked each and every 15 min, he would still have needed medical intervention if he was found to be in distress. When you have someone that sick you need more than a 15 minute watch by a non-medical security officer. If the man died on Thanksgiving day, I bet medical was not adequately staffed to assist a person who was that sick. Most of them probably had the day off. Too bad the Deputies have to suffer because of the medical unit.
Oh my God just more n more $ keeps flying out of our pay why BC of this stupid shit I’ve been told that the new part isn’t holding anyone yet why is that? Hell the court is going after ppl for fines, now if you have a little fine like drinking in park walking your dog in park the courts put a warrant out for arrested why to get you in the new part of hcdc. But yet the child sex offenders is out walking the street y because of the following 1 their wanted for their crimes but no band for them so if no $ they keep walking 2 there’s about 250 in Harford county that is wanted oh yea now they do put in paper the names n pic of dead beat Dads n moms every 6 months r so Y BC they must pay to get out. 3 police don’t want to get off their fat ass to do the work 4 y should we the ppl b the ones to pay for this f up they have done, now they want us to pay higher water bills, over tax us on gas, cigarettes,what ever they want sky box seats for games free vacation on us hell must b nice for Bane to go where ever he wants on us. Then he goes on TV comcast, have you really heard him speak omg I almost fell asleep due to it. 5 why in the Hell did we put money up for Cal ripkin’s stratum BC that’s were the ppl should of gotten a tax break but no us tax payers didn’t get shit wtf and now they are raising our taxes no way hell I will work under the table first
We can stop this ppl everyone needs to get together go to next town meetings n fight for our money the state doesn’t pay me I’m tired of busting my ass for the govtment to take more n more who’s w me . I’m not going to pay anymore taxes let the higher paid officials pay more in taxes, as of now I’m asking what have they’ve done w the $ ttheyve gotten the roads r a bloody mess, the litter is all over the train tunnel is hell n falling apart where’s the $ at. I will tell yu in BANES bank account. Maybe we should ask n see where his $ at. I pray yu think about how much $ he’s gotten where tax $ went n how many times he’s been on vacation in last 5 years, put him uner the knife as their doing to us its hard enought for us middle class n lower class to live shit I haven’t been able to go anywhere do to them texing more n more. This is stupid I can’t even visit my own mother in Tennessee due to gas prices n payin more n more in taxes , it b a shame if she passes n my reason was srry I couldn’t see yu alive due to Harford co screwin the good ppl
Sometimes silence can be golden!
Minnie, maybe you should wait for the bill to pass so that you can get locked up and receive a free education. That would increase your earning potential and make your rants legible to other people so that your message may reach others.
Yur a Dick I’m Minnie’s sister who wrote the shit I’m only 12 so bite me wishin jail on person f yu u stupid MF
Bite me. Hcdc is a major jokes its as they put officials in there to walk the halls(with their thumb up their ass) lazy,fat,out of shape assholes). Tell me Whats the reason others has died in hcdc another holiday NO Hell NO. I can almost bet my life that the inmate wasn’t looked on for over hours not only did hcdc cover it up, with Bane 1st stating lie number 1 then telling staff to go along w it.. Big balls there rite, then the 2nd one died 3rd,4th, 5n6 with the say story over n over again. Bane must say something 2 cover it up this time medical is to blame NO ITS NOT. 1st medical is always slow in fact you must get form fill it out then wait n wait n wait it can take days n days to see someone even w dr s from outside of jail calls telling them the medical conditions still you wait till they call you, let’s say you were on depression medicine you’ll wait n wait till the medicine works out of system. Then maybe just maybe you’ll see the medical staff. So Jess Bane how is it that u blamed the medical once again. The police used a stun gun the man died, another pepper spray killed him this goes on n on. We have problems ppl go to next meeting n get old out,let get so new good ppl in office,replace the lazy police force, and for once take our rites back only one person at a time. Hell we need to get back to 80 s where you can walk the streets go to park w your dogs, where the kids could play outside, and you could do as you wanted. Harford county need help a lot of help get to next meeting speak up sign petitions help now b4 its way too late for ourselves n our families please
The fact that you know so much about being a resident at our facility says a lot more about your character than your near illiteracy. The people that come into our facility have abused and weakened their bodies through their own life choices. What you don’t seem to know or understand is despite the fact that several people have died in the DC over the last couple years, thousands of these drug abusers have died at early ages around the county not in custody. I’m sure thousands more are still alive because of the time they spent in custody that gave them medical care and kept them away from their habits. Unfortunately, that is not as easy of a statistic to show as a death is. The finest hospitals in the world still have patients that die there.
King
“The finest hospitals in the world still have patients who die there.”
Your comments are very true, and in my opinion the inmate who died from heroin withdrawal should have been in the hospital. That was a decision for the medical authority to make, and it appears they made the wrong decision. In my opinion the effects of extensive heroin use on this man was such that it was beyond the capability of on site medical services at the DC. There is a good probability that this man would have died even in a hospital.
In my opinion Capasso only waited to retire until he reached major so he could get a fatter retirement check. He knows he doesn’t have the intelligence or leadership skills to run the place. So he will take his fat check along with the lump sum check for his sick days he didn’t use for 25 years and just sit back and wait for Bane to give him the nod for Warden.. He will then take the controls and finish riding the jail into the ground on the backs of the officers who actually work there.. Its a sad state of affairs at 1030 Rock Spring Rd. It needs real supervision, not complacency and inaction.