House Of Correction

The state will begin phasing in uniforms today for the 1,200 prisoners at the Maryland House of Correction Annex, where inmates had threatened to attack officers to protest a new policy that forces them to give up their street clothes. Previously, uniforms had been worn only by prisoners at the boot camp and at the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center in Baltimore, better known as Supermax. The state has 23,000 inmates. Because of concerns about potential violence, the maximum-security prison in Jessup has been locked down for the past week.

About half the striking inmates at the Maryland House of Correction left their cells for breakfast yesterday morning - a sign that the protest against a new smoking ban and other prison conditions might be nearing an end, prison officials said. After nearly three days of eating bag lunches three times daily, 600 of the prison's 1,200 inmates turned out for a hot breakfast of bacon and eggs. Inmates at the maximum-security lockup in Jessup have refused to leave their cells and go to jobs at prison factories since Monday - a work stoppage that authorities estimate has cost the state $50,000 a day in lost production.

About half the striking inmates at the Maryland House of Correction left their cells for breakfast yesterday morning - a sign that the protest of a new smoking ban and other prison conditions might be nearing an end, prison officials said. Inmates at the maximum-security lockup in Jessup have refused to leave their cells and go to jobs at prison factories since Monday - a work stoppage that authorities estimate has cost the state $50,000 a day in lost production. But signs that tensions were easing in the fourth day of the strike were visible yesterday, officials said.

In the second day of an inmate strike at the Maryland House of Correction, tensions escalated yesterday as nearly all of the 1,228 prisoners refused to come out of their cells, virtually shutting down the maximum-security lockup in Jessup. Inmates are protesting the state's new smoking ban, which went into effect July 2, and long-standing conditions at the prison, including the lack of educational and training programs, authorities said. Division of Correction officials emerged from an hours-long meeting with inmates late yesterday afternoon with the hope "that the House of Correction will return to normal operations shortly," said DOC spokesman David B. Towers.

In the second day of an inmate strike at the Maryland House of Correction, tensions escalated yesterday as nearly all of the 1,228 prisoners refused to come out of their cells, virtually shutting down the maximum-security lockup in Jessup. Inmates are protesting the state's new smoking ban, which went into effect July 2, and other long-standing conditions at the prison, including the lack of educational and training programs, authorities said. Division of Correction officials emerged from an hours-long meeting with inmates late yesterday afternoon with the hope "that the House of Correction will return to normal operations shortly," said DOC spokesman David B. Towers.

Pasadena man pleads guilty to sexually assaulting motorist A Pasadena man accused of sexually assaulting a female motorist pleaded guilty yesterday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court to a third-degree sex offense. Jason S. Dinsmore, 27, is scheduled to be sentenced July 13. Prosecutors and defense lawyers are expected to seek a sentence of one year in prison plus seven more years suspended, registration as a sex offender, counseling and five years' probation. Dinsmore was charged in a January incident in which a woman told state police that Dinsmore picked her up on the side of I-97 near Glen Burnie after her vehicle overturned and then assaulted her. Murder convict stabbed during fight at prison A House of Correction inmate was hospitalized after he was repeatedly stabbed yesterday morning during a fight another inmate, authorities said.

An inmate serving a life term for murder was found dead in his cell at the House of Correction in Jessup yesterday morning - possibly from strangulation, authorities said. The Maryland Division of Correction was investigating the death of Alan Newman, imprisoned since 1993 for murder and weapons convictions. His age was not available last night. According to state prisons spokesman David Towers, officers making rounds observed Newman unconscious in the cell he shared with another prisoner.

A former correctional officer at the Maryland House of Correction has filed a federal lawsuit against the Jessup prison, saying she was unfairly strip-searched and fired last summer for fraternizing with an inmate. In the suit, Veleta Harris of Baltimore listed 15 other employees at the prison who she said were accused of similar misconduct but were not terminated. Harris, a correctional officer for 20 years, said the allegations against her were untrue. She said in the suit that prison officials discriminated against her because she is Jamaican and because, at 60, she is older than other workers.

Several of a Jessup prison's worst inmates attacked a group of corrections officers yesterday afternoon, stabbing two of them in what prison officials say was an isolated and unprovoked assault.The two officers from the Maryland House of Correction were flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where they were treated for stab wounds to the head and back and released last night. Officials identified them as Gregory McGowen and Officer Alonzo Galloway.Two other officers suffered minor injuries in the assault.