Mariah England

Dr. Cassel
ENG 1201
12/1/2015
Inside the Cell Block Walls
Dayton holds so much history. Its home to the National Museum of the United States Air
Force and is the birth home to many well-known individuals , such as poet Paul Laurence
Dunbar and entrepreneur John H. Patterson. The city is also known for its many patents,
inventions and inventors that have come for the area, most notable being the Wright Brothers and
their invention of powered flight. In 2008, 2009, and 2010, Site Selection magazine even ranked
Dayton the number one mid-sized metropolitan are in the nation for economic development.
With so much positive momentum building up our city overtime, its easy to forget about the
shadows that once lurked our happy streets. What in our city is hiding in plain sight?
The Montgomery County Juvenile Detention Center, unlike most detention centers, is a
maximum security facility. MCDC is responsible for the intake and processing of adult male and
female offenders and has a capacity of up to 200 inmates. Approximately 13,000 offenders are
booked into Central Processing Unit annually. The inmates in this jail range from low level
offenders, to those being held for violent crimes like robbery, rape, and murder. The security
level is as high as it is in any maximum security state prison. The male and females in this
juvenile detention center are usually awaiting trial, or have already been sentenced time
equivalent to a year or less. People sentenced for over a year are sent to the Ohio State Prison.
One example of an inmate that was processed through MCDC was Darrell Ferguson, a
white male, was sentenced to death after being convicted of aggravated murders of Thomas
Kind, Arlie Fugate and Mae Fugate. In December 2001, Ferguson was granted a two-day pass
from a halfway house to visit his mother but failed to return when his pass expired. Instead, he
fatally stabled and beat three elderly victims, who were acquaintances of his, and stole household
items including televisions sets and wedding rings. Ferguson admitted the killings to friends and
was therefore identified as the primary suspect. He was processed through MCDC until they
sentenced him with execution of death Sept. 9, 2003, then which he was transferred to Ohio State
prison to awhile the execution on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 at 10am.