The executive director of the Maryland State Employees Union on Wednesday demanded to meet with Gov. Robert Ehrlich about the stabbing death of a prison guard late Tuesday night.
“We call upon the governor of the state of Maryland to have a safety summit,” said Ron Bailey, the union?s executive director. “… We are demanding it.”
But Ehrlich said that he would not meet with the group and preferred to focus on David McGuinn?s death, which he called a “tragedy.”
“The governor has met on several occasions with correctional officers,” said Ehrlich?s spokesman, Henry Fawell. “Right now, the governor believes everyone?s focus should be on the officer and his family.”
“The death of Officer McGuinn is a tragedy, and my heartfelt prayers go out to his family,” Ehrlich said in a statement. “His death is a reminder to us all of the danger that law enforcement professionals like Officer McGuinn face every day.”
Fawell said Ehrlich has a history of supporting correctional officers, and that he placed $5.4 million for 160 new correctional officer positions in his last budget.
But union representatives said the correctional officers are now living in a state of fear and Ehrlich needs to increase staffing and fund improvements for better security in the House of Correction, the maximum-security prison in Jessup.
Maryland?s prisons are understaffed, morale is low, the system is in crisis and the governor has ignored the conditions that led to McGuinn?s death, Bailey said.
“We’re saddened and furious by the death of Officer McGuinn,” he said. “We?re furious because this is another of these situations where we say, ?I told you so.?”
McGuinn, 42, was the fourth person killed at the House of Correction in Jessup in recent weeks.
Inmates assaulted two officers in April. Authorities said two inmates were stabbed to death by other inmates in May. Another inmate was stabbed to death last week, allegedly by a fellow prisoner, authorities said.
Prison spokeswoman Maj. Priscilla Doggett said she “didn?t know why” the prison had seen such intense violence recently.
“We realize we?re trying to manage a population that is violent and given to committing acts of violence,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
