The inmate stabbed to death Tuesday at the maximum-security Maryland House of Correction in Jessup was attacked and injured only weeks earlier but released back into the general prison population, according to a source familiar with the incident. The man was the third inmate killed since May at the prison, which houses about 1,100 inmates.
The inmate, whose name prison authorities would not release, died Tuesday following a stabbing at 2:40 p.m. at the prison as he headed indoors from the prison yard. Officers who sawthe attack took another inmate into custody and confiscated his shank.
The inmate suspected in the attack was placed in segregation and officers locked down the maximum-security prison, said prison spokesman George Gregory.
Prison authorities declined to identify the dead man, saying they needed to notify his next of kin. He began serving a life sentence in 1994 for homicide and weapons charges in Prince George?s County.
The suspect, whose name officials also declined to release, is serving a life sentence since 1993 for murder and handgun violations in Baltimore, authorities said.
The state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and state police are investigating the attack.
A source familiar with the incident said the slain inmate was injured in May during a gang-related stabbing that left a 29-year-old Baltimore man dead.
That stabbing was the result of friction between the Black Guerilla Family, a notorious prison gang, and the Crips, a source told The Examiner. Prison officials said James Murphy, 29, of Baltimore, died after being stabbed in the torso, head and legs with a homemade weapon in that incident.
Also in May, Willie C. Williams Jr., 34, of Baltimore, was found dead, alone in his cell, with two puncture wounds and tape loosely wrapped around his neck, the victim of an apparent homicide.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
