Correctional Officers

At least four inmates jumped a state correctional officer before he was stabbed seven times inside the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup, taking his radio so that he could not call for help, his wife said yesterday. Edouardo F. Edouazin, 28, was returning an inmate to his cell, alone, when the 38-year-old man -- who is serving a life sentence for murder and whose name has not been released -- attacked him with a homemade knife, officials said. Much of Edouazin's powerful frame bore the marks of the attack: The Haitian-born man was stabbed Friday afternoon in the stomach, chest and back, and also was injured on his head.

Whether they were stabbing each other with blades fashioned out of turkey bones or scaling barbed-wire fences in daring escapes, plenty of prisoners at the House of Correction in Jessup were scraped and scratched over the years. And while inmates credit those episodes as the inspiration for the nearly 130-year-old facility's long-standing nickname - "The Cut" - its origins are far more mundane. The House of Correction, which closes tomorrow, is positioned on an embankment overlooking railroad tracks that "cut" through the rolling hills of Jessup.

So after the list of Maryland's fallen heroes was read yesterday at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens, the Hereford High School Chamber Choir did indeed sing "You'll Never Walk Alone." And the young ladies and gentlemen did so splendidly. The girls looked fetching in their black gowns, the boys absolutely elegant in their black tuxedos. The choir's rendition of the song was superb. I just wondered if anyone else caught the irony of "You'll Never Walk Alone" being sung at a fallen heroes ceremony in which David McGuinn was one of the honorees.

Maryland corrections officials announced yesterday a series of security improvements at the state's prisons while continuing to deny any major problems in the wake of two escapes this year.The measures include a higher fence with razor wire at the Maryland Correctional Institution at Jessup (MCIJ), where convicted murderer Gregory L. Lawrence and convicted armed robber Byron L. Smoot fled May 18 and were recaptured two days later.The state is also installing a more secure fence at the Maryland Correctional Training Center at Hagerstown, where convicted armed robber Raymond E. Dodd escaped July 12. He has not been recaptured.

Baltimore County officials have reached contract agreements that would allow sheriff's deputies to retire after 20 years and give 10 percent pay raises to correctional officers and police dispatchers.The retirement package was sought for years by deputies eager for the same 20-year retirement opportunity provided to county police officers, said Sgt. Michael Corrigan, union president."The retirement was a really big issue with us," Corrigan said.Corrigan said the contract would allow deputies to retire with 20 years of service after Dec. 31, 2002, instead of requiring 30 years of service to retire and collect 50 percent of their salary.

Hundreds of police officers were hunting last night for a murderer and an armed robber who escaped in broad daylight from the medium- security state prison in Jessup by sliding past an unmanned watchtower and scaling two fences, one topped with razor wire.Yesterday morning, blood was visible on the fence where Byron Lester Smoot, 38, and Gregory Lee Lawrence, 39, leaped to freedom. Smoot was found to be missing at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to prison officials, launching a manhunt for the first escapees from the Maryland Correctional Institution at Jessup since 1986.

For Janet Gates, serving a traditional Thanksgiving dinner meant preparing nearly 80 pounds of turkey, 50 pounds each of potatoes, homemade stuffing, sauerkraut, dinner rolls and pumpkin pies for more than 200.That was before the food services director at the Carroll County Detention Center headed home to New Windsor to cook today's holiday dinner for her family.Gates had help. She could call upon three full-time staff cooks and a dozen or more inmates to assist in the preparation, service and cleanup.

After inviting the Carroll commissioners outdoors yesterday to see how his office had spent county funds on uniforms, patches and painting and striping marked patrol cars, Sheriff Kenneth L. Tregoning marched into their conference room and spelled out how he would save or earn them money, beginning today.Tregoning used the quarterly meeting yesterday to update the commissioners on 19 items, including the implementation today of new medical services at the county jail. The move will save $20,000 to $25,000 a year and provide better services, he said.

Correctional officers at the Carroll County Detention Center found a noose fashioned from a bedsheet in an inmate's cell late Sunday, hours before the prisoner was to be sent to a state Division of Correction facility, authorities said.Christopher McDermott, 24, was sentenced last week to four years in prison after he was found guilty of violating probation on 1997 charges of reckless endangerment and second-degree assault.McDermott had been held at the county jail in Westminster since July 28, authorities said.

For Janet Gates, serving a traditional Thanksgiving dinner meant preparing nearly 80 pounds of turkey, 50 pounds each of potatoes, homemade stuffing, sauerkraut, dinner rolls and pumpkin pies for more than 200.That was before the food services director at the Carroll County Detention Center headed home to New Windsor to cook today's holiday dinner for her family.Gates had help. She could call upon three full-time staff cooks and a dozen or more inmates to assist in the preparation, service and cleanup.

The state Board of Public Works has approved a $500,000 settlement for the family of an inmate killed in 2004 while officers attempted to subdue him using pepper spray at a Western Maryland prison. The family of Ifeanyi A. Iko had been seeking $28 million in a federal wrongful death lawsuit, which will now be dismissed. The settlement - thought to be one of the largest Maryland awards in a prisoner death or injury case - was approved at Wednesday's board meeting. Gary Adler, the Iko family's attorney, said the settlement also includes a condition that the prison system revisit policies related to Iko's death.

Executive Smith home after surgery Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. was back home in Reisterstown yesterday after being released from a Towson hospital, where he was admitted last week with chest pains. Surgeons at St. Joseph Medical Center performed triple-bypass surgery on Smith, 66, after discovering arterial blockages in his chest, although they said he had not suffered a heart attack. Smith was released Monday and "continues to do very well," according to a statement from his office.

Two inmates at the Jessup Correctional Institution were taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center yesterday after being stabbed during an altercation, officials said. The inmates were suffering from serious injuries after the confrontation, which took place in a common area of one of the housing units, officials said. Rick Binetti, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said one of the inmates was serving a life sentence for murder, and the other was serving a seven-year sentence for drug possession with intent to distribute.

Upper Marlboro - With the investigation of a detainee's homicide inside a cell in Prince George's County stretching past its fourth day, the local chapter of the NAACP criticized authorities yesterday for not suspending the nine officers who worked in the area where the death occurred. "There are nine individuals identified and all are still employed and still on duty," said June White Dillard, the NAACP chapter president. "We feel it is imperative that they be placed on administrative leave until a complete and thorough investigation has been completed into the homicide of Ronnie White."

A convicted murderer was given a second life sentence yesterday for stabbing three correctional officers in exchange for $1,000 and an ounce of marijuana from fellow inmates at the former Maryland House of Correction in Jessup. An Anne Arundel County jury found Daniel Brigham, 30, guilty last year of attempted first-degree murder and other charges for stabbing a female corrections officer and two other officers who came to her aid Dec. 29, 2006. The troubled facility was closed in March 2007.

The family of a detainee who was fatally beaten by correctional officers inside Baltimore's state-run Central Booking and Intake Center three years ago and the state attorney general's office have reached a tentative settlement in a lawsuit connected to the man's death, attorneys on both sides confirmed yesterday. Sources familiar with the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal has not been made final, said the state is expected to pay $500,000 to the family of Raymond K. Smoot.

Todd Vest was driving twice-convicted killer Kevin G. Johns Jr. from a Hagerstown courthouse back to prison in February 2005 when the inmate began chattering away in the back of the caged van. "They think it's bad now. The killing has just begun," the correctional officer quoted Johns as saying. "They will have to kill me to stop the killing." Vest testified yesterday that he thought nothing of the remarks at the time, since defendants say all kinds of things after they are sentenced in court.

While awaiting trial nearly three years ago, Raymond Smoot was beaten to death by correctional officers at Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Facility. His death prompted an FBI investigation, City Council hearings and a bill to create a prison violence task force. But three years after cries of "never again," the task force has not yet convened, and recent reports suggest that Maryland's prisons inflict punishments beyond what any judge or jury might imagine. It's time to take meaningful steps to shine the light of public scrutiny on Maryland's jails and prisons.

Man killed, wife hurt in fire A 55-year-old disabled man was killed and his wife was seriously injured when she tried to save him from their burning Charles County house, according to the state fire marshal's office. The couple's daughter and their two grandchildren were injured, said a fire officials. Two fired guards are reinstated The state prison system has reinstated two correctional officers fired as part of a crackdown stemming from abuse allegations, officials said. The investigation of Maryland's penal system has led to about two dozen correctional officers being fired or placed on leave.

With 25 correctional officers facing termination or already fired, a probe that began last month into whether they beat inmates at two Western Maryland prisons has grown into one of the most extensive investigations in years for the state penal system. Detectives are working with state police and local prosecutors investigating several encounters between inmates and officers in early March at the Roxbury Correctional Institution in Hagerstown and the North Branch Correctional Institution in Cumberland.