Prison Officials

A melee at the Metropolitan Transition Center that sent 18 prison inmates to area hospitals on Friday with stab wounds involved a dispute between the Bloods gang and Sunni Muslim prisoners, according to corrections sources. Maj. Priscilla Doggett, a spokeswoman for the prison system, acknowledged for the first time yesterday that a gang might have been involved in the violence that erupted at the state-run prison in Baltimore. But, noting security concerns, she would not provide more detailed information.

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.

Another year, another corrections officer stabbed at the Maryland House of Correction. This time, it's 28-year-old Edouardo F. Edouazin, who suffered multiple stab wounds after a 38-year-old inmate allegedly attacked him with a homemade knife. Edouazin's wife, in an article that ran in The Sun on Sunday, said that four inmates attacked her husband. The number of attackers is, the folks at the Division of Correction tell us, "under investigation." In The Sun article, a prisons spokeswoman said that this newspaper's reporters interviewing Edouazin about the incident would impede the investigation.

Facing a potentially contentious legislative hearing, prison officials announced disciplinary action yesterday against four more corrections officers whose negligence contributed to the recent escape of two inmates from a Jessup prison.The firing of another guard, the demotion of a captain to lieutenant and written reprimands of a major and another corrections officer complete the internal disciplinary review at the Maryland Correctional Institution, officials said.That brought to nine the number of officers disciplined or transferred as a result of the May 18 escape.

Three captains at the Maryland Correctional Institution at Jessup failed to act on an explicit warning two weeks before an escape May 18 that armed robber Byron L. Smoot was planning to break out, a corrections officer has told authorities.Corrections Commissioner William W. Sondervan confirmed yesterday that the officer has submitted a written report to prison officials detailing her warning to her superiors. Sources identified the officer as Bernadette Thomas.Meanwhile, a corrections officer who was fired for failing to react to an alarm is asserting that it did not go off. In an interview with The Sun, Nina M. Polley said a microwave motion detector that should have sounded the alert was not turned on when Smoot and convicted murderer Gregory L. Lawrence fled by scaling a prison fence.

With state legislators seeking explanations for the escape of two inmates from a Jessup prison two weeks ago, top prison officials said yesterday that they are transferring the warden and have fired a corrections officer.Prison officials said they have suspended three guards for mistakes made after the escape May 18 from the Maryland Correctional Institution and are investigating allegations of negligence by as many as five others."We're going to make sure this doesn't happen again," said William W. Sondervan, the commissioner of the Division of Corrections.

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 Sgt. Gregory McGowen and Officer Alonzo Galloway.Two other officers suffered minor injuries in the assault.

Prison officials pointed their fingers at Bell Atlantic yesterday for the failure of four alarms to sound an alert to nearby communities when two inmates escaped last month from Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup.Richard Rosenblatt, director of neighboring Patuxent Institution, told legislators that a phone company employee diverted wires from the Jessup complex to the remote alarms while doing maintenance work. He said company representatives had repeatedly assured state officials that such a failure would not occur.

The case of a Baltimore drug lord who ordered executions from federal prison is a prime example of how inmates have run deadly criminal enterprises with unfettered access to telephones, a government inquiry has concluded.The Inspector General's Office, an investigative arm of the U.S. Justice Department, accused the Bureau of Prisons of "taking insufficient steps to address this abuse" despite being aware of widespread problems for years."A significant number of federal inmates use prison telephones to commit serious crimes while incarcerated, including murder, drug trafficking and fraud," Inspector General Michael R. Bromwich concluded.

As machines thud and clank in the background, Melvin Powell quietly sprays large metal rectangles -- the brackets for electrical switches -- with a plume of gray paint. Minutes later, he inspects his work as it emerges with a glossy finish from an oven burning at 400 degrees."I think they look pretty good," says Powell, his face partly hidden behind a mask and his hands covered with gray paint. "Maybe when I get out, I can get a job with this company."Powell, 49, isn't an average employee.

Prison officials are investigating the fatal stabbing of a 28-year-old man Wednesday night at the Baltimore City Detention Center. Kennard Pratt was stabbed several times while leaving a shower to return to his cell about 7 p.m., authorities said. Detention center and medical staff performed CPR and took him to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead. Pratt had been jailed since February, awaiting trial on murder charges. Officials said no motive or suspect had been identified.

A Baltimore man convicted of killing two men was sentenced this week to two terms of life plus 170 years in prison by a judge who questioned why he was allowed to stay in this country after previous convictions. Bagada Dionas, 23, and his father legally immigrated to the U.S. in the 1990s as refugees from Liberia, Baltimore prosecutor Rita Wisthoff-Ito said in court Monday. But in his teen years, the younger Dionas amassed a juvenile record that included armed robberies, drug dealing and car theft, according to court records.

Two years ago, state Corrections Secretary Gary D. Maynard gave prison and local police officials a simple task: draw up lists of the most violent gang members being held in state custody. With the House of Correction set to be shuttered, the worst of the worst would be transported to out-of-state facilities. The agencies submitted a total of 220 names, but to Maynard's surprise, only eight appeared on more than one list. The prisons didn't know who the police thought were most dangerous, and the police departments weren't sharing the information with each other, either.

Nine correctional officers at a medium-security prison in Hagerstown were fired yesterday amid allegations that they assaulted an inmate last month, according to a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. The nine officers, who worked at the Roxbury Correctional Institution, plan to appeal the decision, according to the union representing correctional officers in the state of Maryland. "These mass firings are a reckless rush to judgment on the state's part," said Joe Lawrence, spokesman for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

State prison officials said yesterday they have launched a criminal investigation into allegations that eight correctional officers assaulted several inmates at a maximum-security prison - the second case of possible abuse to emerge at a Western Maryland prison this month. The officers from the North Branch Correctional Institution in Cumberland have been placed on administrative leave and face possible termination, prison officials said yesterday. The Maryland State Police are leading a criminal inquiry into the case, prison authorities said.

A melee at the Metropolitan Transition Center that sent 18 prison inmates to area hospitals on Friday with stab wounds involved a dispute between the Bloods gang and Sunni Muslim prisoners, according to corrections sources. Maj. Priscilla Doggett, a spokeswoman for the prison system, acknowledged for the first time yesterday that a gang might have been involved in the violence that erupted at the state-run prison in Baltimore. But, noting security concerns, she would not provide more detailed information.

One visit to the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup in February and new Corrections Secretary Gary D. Maynard knew it shouldn't remain a maximum-security prison. But when a correctional officer was stabbed on March 2, Maynard concluded that the facility built in 1878 needed to be shut down immediately - and Gov. Martin O'Malley quickly agreed. State prison officials have been complaining about the poor conditions, unsafe design and deteriorating structure of the House of Correction for at least 50 years.

Another year, another corrections officer stabbed at the Maryland House of Correction. This time, it's 28-year-old Edouardo F. Edouazin, who suffered multiple stab wounds after a 38-year-old inmate allegedly attacked him with a homemade knife. Edouazin's wife, in an article that ran in The Sun on Sunday, said that four inmates attacked her husband. The number of attackers is, the folks at the Division of Correction tell us, "under investigation." In The Sun article, a prisons spokeswoman said that this newspaper's reporters interviewing Edouazin about the incident would impede the investigation.

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.

An inmate wounded a correctional officer with a homemade knife yesterday inside the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup, and Gov. Martin O'Malley and prison officials responded by vowing to move swiftly to improve staffing and security within the troubled system. The officer was attempting to put an inmate back in his cell when the man turned and stabbed him seven times in the upper body, prison officials said. The 28-year-old officer had been on the job since November; the 38-year-old inmate, whose name was withheld, is serving a life sentence for murder, officials said.