The director of the Baltimore County Detention Center said he is taking additional precautions to keep safe an inmate who has had the word “Rat” carved into his back twice while at the jail.
Director James O’Neill said corrections officials are taking witness intimidation very seriously, especially after inmate Timothy Bryce, 31, who once wore a wire inside the jail, was found bound and apparently assaulted in his cell.
“We’re coming up with housing that is appropriate for him, where we can keep an eye on him,” O’Neill said. “It’s our responsibility to keep him safe. … There’s no tolerance for witness intimidation. We need to gather information and we need to get all the facts.”
Bryce — the inmate who wore the wire while helping prosecutors — was found Sunday night at 11:36 lying on the floor facedown in his cell with his hands tied behind his back, according to internal reports obtained by The Examiner.
The word “RAT” had been scraped into Bryce’s back. He had a large contusion on his head, a towel in his mouth and a spoon with a note attached to it shoved up his rectum, the reports state.
It was the second time Bryce, 31, had apparently been attacked in a very similar fashion.
On July 18, a jail guard found Bryce lying on the ground with several wounds to his head, the word “rat” cut into his back and what appeared to be other puncture wounds to his back.
After this week’s apparent assault, Bryce told an officer that inmate Michael Martin — whom Bryce had tape-recorded — hired someone to carry out the assault, the reports state.
Martin, 46, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in January after a jury convicted him of attempting to solicit the murder of a businessman and the arson of a woman’s house.
O’Neill said he was concerned with “inconsistencies” in Bryce’s statements to guards and police.
Baltimore County police are investigating the apparent attacks and also are investigating the jail to see if staff members followed proper procedures.
