From drug dealer to inmate to mayoral hopeful and victims’ advocate

The long, winding and twisted life of Carlmichael Stokey Cannady.

Carlmichael Stokey Cannady isn’t the first person to run for political office with no prior political experience. But the 51-year old activist and entrepreneur may have been the most unlikely candidate in the 2020 campaign for mayor of the City of Baltimore. As a guest on a popular radio show, Cannady explained his qualifications. He stressed his community activism, talent management, philanthropy, mentorship, video blogs, business endeavors and his plans to provide housing, jobs and opportunity for Baltimore’s young people and low-income residents.

He also listed a credential that none of the other candidates possessed:  his 12 years of incarceration. 

In an interview with Morgan State University journalist Jamesia Downer, Cannady explained his path to redemption – from a convicted criminal who ran a major drug ring in Baltimore to his post-incarceration life of business, community activism and politics. Prison, said Cannady, “changed my way of thinking.”

He credits time, reflection and the opportunity to rehabilitate himself. He spent most of his incarceration in federal prisons, where he says he read books and enrolled in college courses. He counts himself fortunate to have been a federal offender instead of being a long-term guest in the detention facilities in Baltimore. 

Baltimore City Detention Center was where I was detained” Cannday said. “I remember the conditions were like hell. I mean they had rats, all types of problematic issues with the correction system. It was hell.”  

His observation, he says, was shared by other inmates he met while inside the Baltimore system, an operation that has been a unique challenge for African American men since the early 19th Century, when most Black people were still enslaved. 

Baltimore’s first jail opened in 1801 and was in use until a newer facility was built in 1959. From 1859 to 1864, the Baltimore City Jail was used to hold hundreds of "runaways" in addition to White abolitionists who were allies of Marylander Harriet Tubman. After her own escape from enslavement, Tubman frequently returned to the area to usher other blacks to freedom via the Underground Railroad. 

The original jail was also used as a ‘holding pen’ for enslaved people, when an out-of-town slave holder wanted to leave his or her ‘property’ in a secure place while the slave holder attended meetings or other obligations. (Cite Source)

From that single facility, Baltimore’s jail system eventually expanded to eight facilities:

● Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center

● Baltimore Pretrial Complex

● Chesapeake Detention Center

● Metropolitan Transition Center

● Youth Detention Center

● Baltimore City Correctional Center

● Maryland Reception Diagnostic and Classification Center

● Baltimore City Correctional Center (closed in 2015)

As the system expanded, so did corruption and mistreatment of inmates. A  series of investigative reports by The Baltimore Sun  detailed one of the most egregious incidents involving  illicit relations between inmates and correctional officers. Members of the Black Guerrilla Family gang reportedly had sexual relations with correctional officers, resulting in several pregnancies. According to the Baltimore Sun, the officers smuggled guns, drugs and other contraband into the Baltimore Detention Center. 

The Baltimore Sun also reported on a jail-related scandal involving the bail bond system. (https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bs-md-maryland-bail-reform-proposals-20140118-story.html) The 2014  article appropriately titled.,”In Maryland Jails, Release Often Comes Down to Who Can Pay,” described  a hearing at a courtroom in the Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center. The judge set bail at $100,000 for resisting arrest and drug charges and $25,000 for cocaine possession. 

Inmates who were unable to raise bail money were condemned to remaining behind bars until their trials. That stay, according to Cannady, is a very unpleasant experience.

“Baltimore City Jail ... was so dirty,” Cannady said. “It was cold, there was no heat or air conditioning. The food was always the worst. Violence would take flight in jail with people who have conflicts in the street.”

The American system of justice presumes a person is innocent until guilt is proven. Until guilt is determined, an accused person is not supposed to be punished. Cannady suggests that incarceration in Baltimore’s jails could amount to a violation of a detainees’ legal rights. 

“You're supposed to get a decent meal, and you're supposed to have clean and sanitary sheets and towels and stuff like that,” Cannady said. “... Because, again, suppose that you are acquitted of the charges you were accused of. No. So they can't treat you like you are guilty.”

Cannady’s run for mayor was not successful. But his campaign cast the spotlight on a different approach to much-needed criminal justice reform. Instead of the traditional mantra of improved law enforcement, Cannady emphasized the need to focus on providing opportunities for the young men, black men, who make up the vast majority of occupants in the jails. In 2009, Baltimore Central Booking processed 73,000 arrests, most of them for drug offenses  

The racial disparity goes beyond Baltimore’s borders. According to a 2020 Justice Policy Institute report, African-Americans are 30% of the population of Maryland but 70% of the state’s prison population, “higher than any other state and double the national average.”

According to JPI. (Justice Policy Institute), the statewide uptick is happening even as the overall incarcerated population in Maryland is  declining. 

Carlmichael Stokey Cannady – named by his mother for civil rights and Black nationalist icon Stokely Carmichael, who changed his name to Kwame Ture – is seen as a well-known figure in Baltimore and one out of many former inmates who reformed their lives and want to make change. Cannady told one interviewer that, prior to his imprisonment, he had “perpetuated a negative behavior that has now been normalized” and he wants to “fix things that I broke.”

It was gracious of Cannady to assume such responsibility, but the burden was not his alone. If lawmakers would take a similar approach, to fix racially impactful legislation, Baltimore’s jails could become an example for the nation. 

Carlmichael Stokey Cannady is a popular guest on Baltimore media outlets that are focused on community improvement. In the 2015 RADIO ON FIRE interview, Cannady explains his concerns for his hometown and his ideas for providing alternatives for young people to keep them out of jail.

The 2011 LIFETIMES link shows the streets where Cannady once ran his drug ring, before his imprisonment and subsequent ‘resurrection’ as a community activist. The LIFE TIMES link shows some of the projects that Cannady has supported, including a basketball court, community garden and housing rehabilitation.

Carlmichael Stokey Cannady, age 53, former detainee in the Baltimore City Detention Center

In the early 1990’s, Carlmichael Stokey Cannady spent less than a year in the Baltimore City Detention Center. But it was long enough to leave lasting, unpleasant memories. In an interview for an investigation on jails, Cannady described his first impression of the Baltimore jail.

Baltimore City Detention Center was where I was detained and what I remember about that situation and the conditions was like hell. I mean they had rats, they had all types of problematic issues with, you know, the correction system in terms of how people have visited, recreations, it was hell.

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After more than 10 years in prison, Carlmichael Stokey Cannady joined efforts in Baltimore to reform the criminal justice system. In an interview for the investigation on jails, Cannady says reforms are difficult and African Americans are bearing the brunt of problems.

The jail uh, a lot of reform has not taken place in Baltimore as far as the criminal justice system. So the laws that are on the record now has a way of allowing a disproportionate amount of people, specifically those of African-American descent to be incarcerated at a higher rate and most individuals don’t have the resources to even make bail once they commit a crime (1824) so jail become a secondary home.

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Carlmichael Stokey Cannady worked on various community projects for ten years, including community gardens and housing rehabilitation. He called it his way of ‘giving back’ after his life of crime had taken so much from Baltimore.That desire, he says, prompted his run for mayor. The interview for the Jails Project was done before the election, which Cannady lost.

I’ve been here my entire life and I remember when Baltimore was a place that had so much promise (2457) and that’s one of the reasons why I decided to run for mayor because I love this city and we need new leadership. We don’t need politician, we need a leader that come from the people (2504) who know how it works, cause you can’t fix something, or anything for that matter, if you don’t know how it works.