Warden

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.

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.

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.

Paul J. Davis, a former warden of the Baltimore City jail and chairman of the Maryland Parole Commission, died of cancer Monday at his Anneslie home. He was 61. Mr. Davis retired two years ago as deputy administrator of the Baltimore County Bureau of Corrections, and a decade ago he headed the eight-member commission that reviews the sentences of thousands of criminal offenders in the state prison system. "He was an excellent correctional administrator, a good people person who worked well with his staff.

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.

The warden at the Maryland prison that has been locked down since inmates rioted last May will be reassigned at his own request, corrections officials said.Mason W. Waters, warden of the Maryland Correctional Institution near Hagerstown, will begin working temporarily at Division of Correction headquarters in Baltimore, according to Gregory M. Shipley, a prison system spokesman.Waters requested the reassignment 2 1/2 weeks ago, Shipley said.Fifty-eight inmates and correctional officers were injured in the MCI-H riot, which caused property damage estimated at $1.5 million.

The former warden at the Maryland Correctional Institution in Hagerstown has been fired from the job he was transferred to after a riot at MCI last spring, a state prison official said.Mason W. Waters Jr., warden at the prison when the riot occurred there in May, was told last week that he had been terminated from his new job at the prison system headquarters in Baltimore, effective Nov. 19, said Sgt. Gregory M. Shipley, a spokesman for the state Division of Correction.Waters was transferred from MCI last July.

Every federal prison has shakedowns. Guards typically tear apart cons' cells. But after a shakedown at the Federal Correctional Institution in McKean, Pa., guards must replace everything exactly as they found it. Once, an inmate found that a new officer had trashed his cell. He told a lieutenant that he was irritated at having to clean up the mess. "Don't bother," the lieutenant responded, "the officer will put it back."FCI McKean has a staff of 302 to support 1,266 inmates; about 65 percent are inside for drug violations, with an average sentence of 10 years.

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.

The warden's position at the Carroll County Detention Center could remain vacant until the end of next year, Sheriff John Brown said Friday."I hate to do it, but I may wait until this time next year to fill it," Brown said. "There's no money in the coffers right now. I hate to let that important position go unfilled, but it saves us (morethan) $37,000."The sheriff said he initially planned to fill the post within a few months after former warden John E. "Jack" Hinton of Westminster resigned in September.