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The strangling death of Philip E. Parker Jr. last month as he sat shackled on a prison bus was shocking, but hardly unusual in the violent atmosphere that pervades Maryland's correctional system.
As a Baltimore County grand jury indicted twice-convicted killer Kevin G. Johns Jr. yesterday on first-degree murder charges in Parker's death, records show Maryland operates one of the nation's deadliest prison systems.
Another inmate, Brian Wilson, was in handcuffs and leg irons in a secured area of a prison in Jessup on Jan. 12 when a prisoner who wasn't supposed to be there ran up and sliced Wilson's stomach open with a homemade shank, killing him.
The bloody scene was all too familiar at the Maryland House of Correction Annex, a maximum-security prison where some of the state's most violent criminals are held.
A year earlier, Damon Bowie made the mistake of pausing while crossing through the Annex gym to watch a few minutes of a basketball game. Another inmate walked up behind Bowie, shoved a hunting knife in his back, pulled it out and then stabbed him repeatedly in the head and neck.
In December, Robert George was fatally stabbed in the Maryland House of Correction, the main prison adjacent to the Annex, by four other inmates in a dispute over a broken TV set.
Those three murders, Parker's killing and another strangling death at a Hagerstown prison in January 2004 are grisly examples of why Maryland's prisons rank among the nation's deadliest.
With an inmate population of about 24,000, Maryland has for several years recorded homicide rates in its prisons that regularly match, and often exceed, those of much larger states.
Since January 2004, six inmates have been killed in Maryland. That includes a homicide in both January and February this year. There were no homicides in 2003, but five were reported in 2002.
By comparison, New York, with more than twice Maryland's inmate population, reported no homicides in its prisons in 2004, two in 2003 and two in 2002. New Jersey, with an inmate population about the same as Maryland's reported two inmate homicides in 2004, and none in 2003 and 2002.
'Right sizing'
The latest violence comes at a time when Maryland prison administrators are eliminating staff to cut costs in a process they call "right sizing."
Some correctional officers say this exercise has left Maryland's prisons dangerously understaffed. And the problem is compounded, they say, as a growing number of frustrated veteran officers quit or retire early and are replaced by younger and less experienced staff.
Ron Bailey, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 92, a union that represents some correctional officers, said staff cuts contribute to the violence because there are fewer eyes and ears to monitor the prison population and keep inmates under control.
"The magnitude of serious incidents that are occurring is more severe than I can ever recall over the past 28 years," Bailey said.
But Correction Commissioner Frank C. Sizer Jr., who took over as the state's prison chief a year ago, said he is satisfied that he has adequate staff to run the prison system safely, as long as everyone does their job.
"People equate more with better, and that's not always true," he said in an interview.
A staffing analysis identified certain security posts that could be eliminated without compromising safety, Sizer said. Nonsupervisory staff at his agency, he said, was cut by 172 last year - from 4,730 to 4,558 positions.
Sizer disputes that prisons are less safe than in the past. The agency's data show that the number of violent assaults in Maryland's prisons has declined in recent years, from 1,540 inmate-on-inmate assaults in 2001 to 1,295 last year, he said.
And he said that he is trying to put new programs in place that will reduce violence further.
As a Baltimore County grand jury indicted twice-convicted killer Kevin G. Johns Jr. yesterday on first-degree murder charges in Parker's death, records show Maryland operates one of the nation's deadliest prison systems.
Another inmate, Brian Wilson, was in handcuffs and leg irons in a secured area of a prison in Jessup on Jan. 12 when a prisoner who wasn't supposed to be there ran up and sliced Wilson's stomach open with a homemade shank, killing him.
The bloody scene was all too familiar at the Maryland House of Correction Annex, a maximum-security prison where some of the state's most violent criminals are held.
A year earlier, Damon Bowie made the mistake of pausing while crossing through the Annex gym to watch a few minutes of a basketball game. Another inmate walked up behind Bowie, shoved a hunting knife in his back, pulled it out and then stabbed him repeatedly in the head and neck.
In December, Robert George was fatally stabbed in the Maryland House of Correction, the main prison adjacent to the Annex, by four other inmates in a dispute over a broken TV set.
Those three murders, Parker's killing and another strangling death at a Hagerstown prison in January 2004 are grisly examples of why Maryland's prisons rank among the nation's deadliest.
With an inmate population of about 24,000, Maryland has for several years recorded homicide rates in its prisons that regularly match, and often exceed, those of much larger states.
Since January 2004, six inmates have been killed in Maryland. That includes a homicide in both January and February this year. There were no homicides in 2003, but five were reported in 2002.
By comparison, New York, with more than twice Maryland's inmate population, reported no homicides in its prisons in 2004, two in 2003 and two in 2002. New Jersey, with an inmate population about the same as Maryland's reported two inmate homicides in 2004, and none in 2003 and 2002.
Some correctional officers say this exercise has left Maryland's prisons dangerously understaffed. And the problem is compounded, they say, as a growing number of frustrated veteran officers quit or retire early and are replaced by younger and less experienced staff.
Ron Bailey, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 92, a union that represents some correctional officers, said staff cuts contribute to the violence because there are fewer eyes and ears to monitor the prison population and keep inmates under control.
"The magnitude of serious incidents that are occurring is more severe than I can ever recall over the past 28 years," Bailey said.
But Correction Commissioner Frank C. Sizer Jr., who took over as the state's prison chief a year ago, said he is satisfied that he has adequate staff to run the prison system safely, as long as everyone does their job.
"People equate more with better, and that's not always true," he said in an interview.
A staffing analysis identified certain security posts that could be eliminated without compromising safety, Sizer said. Nonsupervisory staff at his agency, he said, was cut by 172 last year - from 4,730 to 4,558 positions.
Sizer disputes that prisons are less safe than in the past. The agency's data show that the number of violent assaults in Maryland's prisons has declined in recent years, from 1,540 inmate-on-inmate assaults in 2001 to 1,295 last year, he said.
And he said that he is trying to put new programs in place that will reduce violence further.
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