Violence at the correctional facilities in Jessup alone is so common it keeps the equivalent of one full-time prosecutor busy every year, said Anne Arundel County State?s Attorney Frank Weathersbee.”At one point in time [in the late 90s] it got so bad, I told the correctional commissioner, ?I am not trying any more cases,? ” he said, adding that the state compensated his office for one attorney?s salary for a brief time.
Weathersbee said he hopes bills will be introduced in the upcoming General Assembly to provide additional assistance to counties bearing the brunt of the responsibility for prosecuting prison violence.
The Friday stabbings of four inmates also have union officials and prosecutors calling for speedy upgrades to the “antiquated” state prison facilities and increased staff presence.
“These are maximum-security inmates. They are incarcerated because they have committed violent acts in the community,” Maryland Division of Corrections spokeswoman Maj. Priscilla Doggett said.
“The behavior still exists when they are incarcerated, and we have to try to fond a way to manage this behavior.”
Ron Bailey, executive director of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 92, said the outbreak of violence Friday may have been prompted by administrative changes the prison is trying to make, including a shakeup of prisoners who will be transferred from one prison to another.
State officials recently pledged more than $5 million to strengthen prison security by adding more surveillance cameras; buying new safety equipment, such as stab-proof vests; and replacing aging prisoner transport vehicles.
The Friday stabbings came about 10 days after a corrections officer was stabbed by an inmate in the same facility and less than two months after Officer David McGuinn was stabbed to death at the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
AT A GLANCE
The correctional facilities in Jessup consist of Jessup Correctional Institute, the Maryland House of Correction, Maryland Correctional Institution for Women, Maryland Correctional Pre-Release System and Jessup Pre-Release Unit.
