A prison lockdown means supposedly safer conditions for inmates and guards.
But the state?s license-plate production also shuts down.
The House of Correction in Jessup, which prison officials have locked down for 11 days before and after the stabbing death of a guard, supplies the state of Maryland with 1 million license plates a year, including nearly 50,000 pairs of car license plates per month, officials said.
Prisoners are not permitted to make the plates during lockdown, which translates into the state missing the production of about 35,000 license plates so far, said prison spokesman George Gregory.
Buel Young, a spokesman for the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, said MVA officials have a stockpile of license plates, but could encounter a shortage if the lockdown continues for several months.
“We are prepared to handle a situation such as this,” he said. “It?s not going to have an immediate impact, but if it does become a prolonged lockdown, we could encounter a shortage.”
The prison had been on lockdown starting July 22, before the fatal stabbing of Officer David McGuinn, 42, on July 25.
Two prison inmates already serving time for murder have been charged with stabbing McGuinn to death, officials said.
Lamarr C. Harris, 35, and Lee E. Stephens, 27, were each charged with first- and second-degree murder, accused of rigging their cell locks and ambushing McGuinn with prison shanks ? homemade knives ? as he counted inmates in the wing, Maryland State Police said.
Harris and Stephens shut themselves back in their cells as McGuinn, bleeding profusely, called for help on his radio and made his way down a set of stairs, police said.
McGuinn was pronounced dead later that night at the Baltimore-Washington Medical Center.
His viewing will be today and Thursday at the Atlantic City Convention Center in his hometown of Atlantic City, N.J.
AT A GLANCE
The House of Correction in Jessup supplies the Maryland Motor Vehicle Association with license plates for newly registered cars in the state.
» 43,956 pairs of car plates per month
» 19,708 pairs of multi-purpose plates per month
» 11,333 pairs of truck plates per month
Source: Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration
