Paul Lurz and about a dozen other employees told me this was an open secret. Paul explained to me that not only was it common for judges and hospital psychiatrists to “never [seem] to be in a rush” to evaluate those committed but that it was also common for the Baltimore police to pick up the mentally ill and homeless and leave them in the city jail. Then, Paul explained, they would be transferred to Crownsville, and his team would receive medical certificates for the transfer that were always signed by the same two physicians using the identical wording. “The rumor was that they simply walked
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