Warden

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.

WASHINGTON -- Stinging from the government's opening statement, a defiant Microsoft Corp. forcefully defended its chairman, Bill Gates, in federal court yesterday, asserting that the no-holds-barred tactics of his company are not only common in the computer industry but also good for the economy.Microsoft's opening salvo in the sweeping antitrust lawsuit was crafted as much for public opinion as for the court. The company faces weeks of being portrayed as an alleged commercial predator.The government's case, which opened Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington, amounts to a litany of episodes of Microsoft's having used its market power to bully and bend competitors, partners and customers to its will.

Flint Gregory Hunt's last moments were characterized by something new to those close to him -- silence.Hunt always had something to say, but he rarely talked about his impending execution for the murder of Baltimore police Officer Vincent J. Adolfo, his lawyers said. Even as the appointed hour drew near, they said, he worried about how it would affect those who cared about him."He told us not to feel like we failed," lawyer Katy C. O'Donnell said after Hunt's death, carrying a stack of final legal papers and a tear-stained tissue.

Correctional officers at the Eastern Correctional Institution have handed Warden Earl D. Beshears a vote of no confidence because of problems that they say have turned the prison near Salisbury into a "powder keg waiting to blow."Carl McVeigh, staff representative of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 92, said the unanimous no-confidence vote was taken at a union meeting Thursday night in Salisbury.About 100 of the union's 250 ECI correctional officers represented by the union were at the meeting and voted, he said.

Last night Dayton tried to escape, set upa dummy in his cell, hid in the laundry in a stackof sheets. For eight months he had strategized,memorizing guards and their routines, losing morethan 30 pounds to make a light jump to the street.Discovered in an unexpected fire drill. Thenthere's Jackson, armed robbery and assault, foundin the shower last week with a knife in his back.And Wade, already one safe escape. Made the mistakeof coming back to get his brother out. All this ina maximum-security place.

All the trappings of the modern jail were on show at the Howard County Detention Center yesterday -- the $2 million electronic control center; the 28-bed substance abuse facility; the clean, modern cells and lack of crowding.But state inspectors touring the Jessup facility as part of a routine audit were a day too late to witness a darker side of jail life: a struggle with an inmate that sent a 37-year-old correctional officer to the hospital, where he was later treated and released.That incident went unmentioned as jail officials touted the benefits of the facility's $12 million renovations completed last fall, including a modernized security system and expanded recreational facilities.

John J. O'Neill Jr., who officially takes over tomorrow as warden of the Harford County Detention Center, says the primary problems he will encounter there are familiar: too many inmates and not enough money.For the past six weeks, Mr. O'Neill has worn two hats, overseeing the Detention Center while continuing to work as the county's director of procurement, a post he has held for four years.He also handled the double duty of procurement director and acting warden for six months in 1993.Mr.

Prosecutors will be permitted to use evidence seized from a barn owned by a Mount Airy veterinarian accused of mistreating two cows, a Howard Circuit judge said yesterday.Judge Cornelius Sybert Jr. ruled that a Howard County AnimaControl warden did not violate the constitutional rights of Richard John Burroughs by going to his barn three times in January 1992 to inspect the cows and seize evidence.Judge Sybert, citing rulings from several federal cases, said privacy laws apply only to a citizen's home -- but not to Dr. Burrough's barn in a vacant field about one-third of a mile from the veterinarian's house.

SALISBURY -- The Justice Department is being asked to investigate charges of racial discrimination at Eastern Correction Institution, among them that the warden promoted a dozen white officers even though he knew they may have seen the answers to the promotional exam.The Correctional Coalition, a group of about 100 officers and nonuniformed workers at the Somerset County prison, also alleges that white officers are given preferential treatment and that blacks are often subjected to racial epithets.

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. -- Outside, the prison resemble nothing so much as a low-lying suburban office park or a modern middle school. It sits in a wooded area far off the main road south of Milledgeville, a central Georgia town of antebellum mansions and a distinctly Southern air.Five prisons are clustered here, not counting a youth detention facility, making the care and feeding of convicts the economic lifeblood of the area. In such a setting, the Georgia Women's Correctional Institution is an utterly unremarkable presence.

The Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor takes place only near the end of "From Here to Eternity" (1953). But it's an ideal selection for the Maryland Historical Society's series, "Patriotic Hollywood: World War II in Film." Stephen Ambrose once wrote, "What held [American GIs] together was not country and flag, but unit cohesion." "From Here to Eternity" is about the pain of building that unit cohesion and the rewards it gives to all who join it, be they selfless, selfish or damaged.

The publication, sent to an inmate at the Eastern Correctional Institution, includes a cartoon of a black woman drawn to resemble an ape. Next to her, a white man in a suit makes a racist remark about her hair. One look at it and the prison's warden instituted a ban on the monthly newsletter, which is produced by the Nationalist Movement, a white supremacist group based in Learned, Miss. "You have a very diverse population behind prison walls and, if this were to get out, it could pose some sort of a security issue, if people get their feathers ruffled over it," said Rosa Cruz, a spokeswoman for the prison system.

George Howard "Toots" Collins, a former warden with the Maryland Division of Correction who was active in numerous community organizations, died of complications from diabetes Tuesday at Continuum Care of Sykesville. He was 76. Mr. Collins graduated from Robert Moton High School and attended Catonsville Community College, Baltimore Community College and the University of Baltimore. He received a bachelor's and a master's degree in criminal justice from Coppin State University. He was warden of the Maryland State Penitentiary and Jessup Pre-Release Unit.

On July 24, 2006 CHRISTOPHERRAYMOND WARDEN Born in Terrell, Texas on April 29, 2006 loving son of Beth Walger and Kenny Warden Grandson of Harry Melvin Walger and Sterling and Elizabeth Warden and many Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. A Funeral Service will be held at Christ the King Church, 1102 Hart Rd. on Monday July 31 at 10 A.M. Interment Forest Ridge Cemetery.

From The Sun, July 11, 1906: "ELLICOTT CITY - At the meeting of the County Commissioners here ... the question arose, `Can the dog of the jail warden be taxed by Ellicott City?' The Commissioners differed from the city authorities, who wanted to tax the dog. They held that the warden was a county official and lived on county property, which could not be taxed by the city, and notified the Council to that effect." [ Sun staff researcher Paul McCardell contributed to this item.]

The warden at Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown resigned in protest this week, criticizing the Maryland Division of Correction for "dictatorial leadership" and job cuts that show a "disregard for public safety." Joseph Sacchet, who has worked for more than 30 years in the corrections system at all three medium-security prisons near Hagerstown, said in a letter this week to The (Hagerstown) Herald-Mail, his staff and Corrections Commissioner Frank C. Sizer Jr. that he is resigning effective June 30. Through a department spokesman, Sizer said Sacchet "made a decision and we wish him well."

Using lockdowns to boost safety of state's prisons As reported in The Sun, Warden James V. Peguese ordered a lockdown of the Maryland House of Correction Annex (MHC-X) after four stabbings this month and a fatal stabbing in January ("Stabbings prompt lockdown at Jessup," Feb. 16). Lockdowns are one of many tools used by corrections officials throughout the nation to ensure, on a regular basis, that cells are swept of contraband, weapons or weapon-making materials and that inmates are aware that correctional officers are always on the lookout for such materials.

On December 29, 2003, MARYBERNADINE BAILEY, of Severna Park, MD, beloved wife of the late Warden Bailey Sr., devoted mother of Warden W. Bailey Jr., loving mother-in-law of Lynn H. Bailey; dear grandmother of Mark Christopher, Kevin James, Stephen Warfield and Joann Patricia Bailey. Friends may call at the BARRANCO & SONS, P.A. SEVERNA PARK FUNERAL HOME, Ritchie Hywy at Robinson Rd., today from 9 to 10:45 AM with services to follow at 10:45 AM. Burial private. In lieu of flowers, contributions to First Baptist Church, 3801 Fifth St. Brooklyn, MD 21225.

On September 14, 2003, PATRICIA DAVIS (nee Schupback) WARDEN, beloved wife of Harold S. Warden, devoted mother of Stephen Michael Warden and his wife Kelly. Grandmother of Jeffrey L. and Bryan J. Warden. Friends may call at the Family Owned and Operated Slack Funeral Home, P.A., 3871 Old Columbia Pike, Ellicott City, on Wednesday, 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 P.M. Funeral Services from the above funeral home Thursday, 10 A.M. Interment Lakeview Memorial Park.

On May 30, 2003, JANICE L. WARDEN departed this life. She is survived by her beloved daughter, Kimberley Warden, significant companion, Julian Moyse, and sister, Sherry Roberts. Friends and family may visit Thursday, June 5, 6 to 9 p.m., at Mt. Pisgah A.M.E. Church, 5901 Cedar Fern Court in Columbia, MD. A celebration of her life will be held Friday, June 6, 10:30 a.m., at the same location. In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made to the Janice Warden Scholarship Fund at St. Ignatius Loyola Academy, in honor of her commitment to reaching at-risk youth through tutoring and mentoring, 740 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD 21202.