21-year-old inmate stabbed at medium-security prison

An inmate was stabbed yesterday afternoon at a medium-security state prison in Jessup, authorities said last night.

The victim - a 21-year-old man being held on drug charges whose name was not divulged - was wounded about 12:20 p.m. while inmates were being moved in a housing unit at the Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup, said Mark Vernarelli, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Vernarelli described the stabbing as "minor." He said the inmate was taken by ambulance to Maryland Shock Trauma Center and, after receiving treatment, was moved to another prison, which Vernarelli would not identify.

The stabbing is being investigated, Vernarelli said.

There have been four killings in the Maryland correction system this year - the most recent on Thursday when Anthony Dixon, 26, of Baltimore, was fatally stabbed at another Jessup facility, the House of Correction Annex.

Robert George, 29, was the last inmate stabbed to death at the Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup. He was killed on Dec. 7, while returning to his cell from lunch.