Two stabbings at the Jessup Correctional Institution hours apart on Thursday night sent two inmates to the hospital in critical condition, officials said.
“Within two and a half hours, two people were sent to the trauma center from the prison with critical, life-threatening injuries,” said Battalion Chief Matthew Tobia, an Anne Arundel Fire Department spokesman.
The first inmate, a 27-year-old serving a life sentence, was stabbed three times in the shoulder and back shortly before 6 p.m. in the recreation yard, said Mark Vernarelli, spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
The inmate was transported an hour later by ambulance to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore with life-threatening injuries, Tobia said. The man was in stable condition as of press time Friday, Vernarelli said.
The victim was stabbed by another inmate serving a life sentence, Vernarelli said. Neither men?s name was released.
Rescue personel returned to the prison at 9:25 p.m. for a second stabbing, involving a 23-year-old man who also sustained multiple wounds and was transported to Shock Trauma with life-threatening injuries, Tobia said.
That prisoner was expected to be released Friday, Vernarelli said.
The department?s internal investigative unit is looking into the incidents, Vernarelli said. He would not provide any more details into the stabbings, such as the motive or if the two events were related.
The Jessup prison is formerly the Maryland House of Correction, which was shut down March 19, 2007, by Gov. Martin O?Malley after repeated violence.
Examiner Staff Writer Jason Flanagan contributed to this report.
