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| Inmates Get Uniforms at Jessup |
| By Baltimore Sun |
| Published: 10/08/2001 |
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The state will begin phasing in uniforms this week 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. Inmates' movements in the complex have been restricted and visitors have been turned away. Because the prison was already under a heightened state of security, officials decided to speed up by several weeks their plans to issue uniforms to the inmates. 'It's easier when inmates are locked down,' said Priscilla Doggett, a prison spokeswoman. 'We're trying to do this gradually and minimize any threats to staff.' The state is issuing each inmate two short-sleeved blue denim shirts, one long-sleeved denim shirt, one sweatshirt, two pairs of denim pants, work boots, tennis shoes and shower shoes. The shirts are marked "D.O.C." Inmates will be allowed to send their personal clothes home and to keep their underwear. Division of Correction Commissioner William W. Sondervan said last week that officials decided to put prisoners in uniforms for safety reasons. Uniforms will help officers distinguish inmates from contractors and staff members. 'If an inmate goes over a fence, we want them to look like inmates,' he said. Uniforms will be phased in for inmates at other state prisons over the next several years, beginning at the House of Correction in Jessup this year. |
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