State legislators have launched a preliminary inquiry into recent security lapses, violence and cutbacks on surveillance posts at the Maryland House of Correction Annex - designated as one of the three most secure prisons in the state.
A group of delegates and senators will tour the Jessup prison next week and meet with various correctional officials, including Public Safety Secretary Stuart O. Simms and Commissioner of Correction William W. Sondervan.
The security concerns of officers who watch over 1,200 of the state's most dangerous criminals may also be the subject of public hearings when the General Assembly convenes next month, lawmakers say.
Del. James E. Rzepkowski, a Republican who represents the Jessup area, said there are ways for the state to protect personnel and reduce the threat of violence. "We need to find a lasting solution to this problem. Budget times are good. We shouldn't ignore the need for adequate and professionally trained staff," he said.
The legislative initiative follows an article in The Sun on Monday detailing staff reductions since January at the maximum security lockup, where one out of every six officer and supervisor positions has effectively been eliminated this year.
During the first eight months of the cutbacks, 18 officers were assaulted - triple last year's total. In addition, internal prison and court records show that some of those officers were attacked in areas of the prison where security posts are no longer staffed, The Sun reported.
Sondervan responded in a letter to the editor that he has done many positive things to protect his employees and the community.
"On my watch as Commissioner of Correction, my leadership team and I have aggressively pursued issues of staff safety and the public's protection," he said in the letter, which was posted on the Division of Correction's Web site.
Rzepkowski said he thought a hearing was in order.
"There have been lingering problems in Jessup. I have concerns when officials say there's no problem and rank-and-file officers say there's a grave problem. ... I recognize you can't staff a facility 365 days a year for a major emergency, but I think we've relied on technology at the expense of physical personnel on location."
"I don't believe we can truly get to the bottom of this without hearing the officers' accounts of what's happening inside the prison," he said.
Sen. James E. DeGrange Sr., a Democrat who also represents the Jessup area, said it was important to begin investigating the security concerns. "I think it's serious enough that we need to see firsthand what's happening and then decide what the next step should be," he said. "At this point, I think we need to get some answers soon."
This year's staffing reductions came less than three years after rioting in which 16 officers were beaten and stabbed. Subsequently, the prison population was reduced from about 1,800 to 1,200. A task force of correction officials, officers and a consultant from the Department of Justice's National Institute of Corrections agreed on how to adequately staff the annex.
Their plan appeared to work. Assaults on officers dropped from 53 in 1997 to six last year, as overall violence steadily declined.
"The staffing plan was agreed on by both labor and management. Nothing about the structure or inmates has changed. It didn't make sense to change the staffing level," said Leonard Brown, who served on the 1997 task force and is now a union official. "The NIC consultant was brought in as a neutral party by the officials to determine what the actual staffing should be. If you police yourself and audit yourself, you're not going to find much fault."
An internal security audit committee reviewed staffing at the annex for this year and recommended a series of cuts, in part, to reduce a longtime practice of using overtime to staff the prison.
Sondervan has insisted that the cutbacks in the number of security and surveillance posts are not connected to the increase in violence at the prison. Most of the attacks have been minor, he said in Monday's article in The Sun.
"Every person who works there is someone's father or mother, son or daughter. I'd never do anything to jeopardize that. ... Corrections is a dangerous business. There are going to be assaults. But that doesn't mean there are systemic problems," he said.
In addition, Sondervan and other correction officials have pointed to their plans to offer more training for officers, which they say will decrease altercations between staff and inmates.
They also say a textile factory scheduled to open next month will prevent inmate idleness - and help compensate for about 30 jobs that inmates lost because there were no longer enough officers to supervise them. Overall, the officials say, the annex is on the right track.
Rzepkowski said that despite past tours and meetings with correction officials, "things haven't gotten significantly better over the years."
