An inmate stabbed three correctional officers at the Jessup Correctional Institution Friday, closing out what?s been a dangerous year for those working in Maryland?s prisons.
The stabbings occurred at approximately 10:10 a.m. at the Jessup prison, formerly called the Maryland House of Correction Annex, according to Maj. Priscilla Doggett, a prison spokeswoman.
An inmate who was leaving the recreation room in “D” building stabbed one correctional officer and then two others in the face, neck and hands with a sharp weapon, causing a call for help in which “allavailable officers responded” to the scene, Doggett said.
During a struggle in which the inmate received non-life threatening injuries, the officers subdued him and prevented him from seriously harming any of them, Doggett said.
“The officers did a magnificent job in responding quickly, taking control of the situation, subduing the inmate, and preventing their fellow officers from receiving further injury,” she said. “The inmate was being combative during submission. The officers maintained their professionalism and only used the force that was necessary.”
The prison is now locked down and officers will conduct a thorough search of the institution for additional weapons, Doggett said.
The inmate, whose name prison authorities are not releasing, is 29 and serving a life sentence from Baltimore City Circuit Court for homicide and weapons violations, Doggett said.
“We don?t have any information on what precipitated the incident,” Doggett said, adding that the investigation into is ongoing.
The violence comes at the end of a year that has been dangerous for correctional officers.
Twice this year, prisoners have been charged with first-degree murder after the slaying of guards.
Correctional Officer Jeffery Allan Wroten was shot to death in Washington County on Jan. 27 and Officer David McGuinn was stabbed to death on July 25 at the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup, a prison on the same plot of land as the Jessup Correctional Institution.
