Maryland State Police arrested two inmates in the death of a prison guard who was fatally stabbed at the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup on Tuesday night.
Lamar C. Harris, 35, and Lee E. Stephens, 27, have each been charged with first- and second-degree murder in the death of David McGuinn, 42, who was stabbed multiple times in the torso as he attempted to count prisoners, police said.
Both men already were in the prison for murder and handgun convictions, said Divison of Correction spokeswoman Maj. Priscilla Doggett.
Officials said Harris and Stephens might have jimmied the locks on their cells to get out before the attack. They returned to their cells after stabbing McGuinn, police said. Spokesman Gregory Shipley said police have not yet identified a murder weapon, but they have uncovered multiple shanks, or homemade knives, during their investigation.
A motive has not been established. Shipley called McGuinn a dedicated officer who did things “by the book.”
The incident was the fourth in a string of violent attacks at the 19th century 1,100-bed maximum-security prison in recent months, and it occurred while it was already under lockdown following the stabbing death of an inmate last week.
The prison will remain on lockdown indefinitely, prison officials said Thursday. Two officers were assaulted at the prison in April and two prisoners were stabbed and killed in May.
Doggett said Thursday that the jail continues to run under “security operation mode,” meaning it is under the command of the department’s Assistant Commissioner for Security Operations James Pequese.
The attack came just one day after Maryland Division of Correction Commissioner Frank Sizer announced he would replace jail Warden William Williams. Wendell France is scheduled to take over the job Monday, Doggett said.
