2 inmates stabbed at Jessup prison

Injuries in incidents not life-threatening

By Kevin Rector | Sun Reporter

July 5, 2008

Two separate stabbings at the Jessup Correctional Institution on Thursday sent two inmates of the maximum-security prison to Maryland Shock Trauma Center with multiple wounds, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said yesterday.

Neither of the stabbings was life-threatening, said Mark Vernarelli, the spokesman, in an e-mail.

One victim has been released from the hospital, and the other was in stable condition, he said. Their names were not released.

Vernarelli said the first incident occurred about 5:40 p.m. Thursday, when a 27-year-old inmate serving a life sentence was stabbed several times in the prison's recreation yard.

After being treated at the prison's regional medical facility, he was taken by ambulance to Shock Trauma. He has since been released from the hospital.

About 9:40 p.m., another inmate was stabbed three times. The inmate, whose age could not be immediately determined, also was taken to Shock Trauma, Vernarelli said.

Vernarelli said his department's internal-investigations unit is probing the stabbings.

Investigators do not know whether the stabbings were related, he said.

In other incidents at the prison in the past year, an inmate was stabbed in December, and a corrections officer was stabbed by an inmate in September.

kevin.rector@baltsun.com