A convicted murderer and drug dealer escaped in separate incidents last week from two state pre-release units.
Hasid George, 25, convicted in two 1991 slayings in Baltimore, escaped Friday morning from the city's pre-release unit, according to Joann Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the Maryland Division of Correction, which operates the two facilities.
Two days earlier, Jeffrey Thomas Wilson, 34, escaped from the ** Southern Maryland Pre-Release Unit in Hughesville, she said.
Both men were at large last night, Rodriguez said.
Pre-release units are low-level security facilities for inmates who have exhibited good behavior in prison and are eligible for work-release programs. The state Division of Correction runs seven pre-release facilities.
Inmates at the Southern Maryland facility, for example, are housed in dormitory-style rooms without bars. Wilson walked away from the unit, which has no fences or guard towers, between 8: 15 a.m. and 11: 47 a.m. Wednesday. His absence was discovered during an inmate count.
George, who was serving a 12-year sentence for second-degree murder, apparently escaped through a window about 10: 30 a.m. Friday. He was waiting to be transported back to the Baltimore City Correctional Center on Greenmount Avenue after an unfavorable parole hearing.
"Two escapes within a few days is highly unusual," Rodriguez said.
According to the Division of Correction, three inmates escaped from the Southern Maryland center in 1994, the latest year for which statistics are available; 19 escaped from the Baltimore facility, a drop from 25 in 1993.
George had been in prison since August 1992 and was scheduled for release in October 2001, Rodriguez said. George is from New York but has a sister in Silver Spring.
Wilson, who is from Washington, was 10 months from a parole hearing after spending 10 years in prison, most recently at the Brockbridge Correctional Facility in Jessup. He was serving a 15-year sentence for possession and intent to distribute phencyclidine, or PCP, and had been at the pre-release unit since September. He was scheduled to be released in January 1999.
If apprehended and convicted of escape, the men could receive up to an additional 10 years in prison.
Pub Date: 1/05/97
