Cumberland Times-News, Md.
CRESAPTOWN, Md. — Western Correctional Institution leaders began circulating new staffing plans last week to correctional officers outlining new recreation and staffing protocols in response to prolonged and dangerously low short staffing levels, according to union officials representing the officers.
The plans leave supervision of the recreation area up to a small number of correctional officers observing remotely from the control tower while a remaining officer is left to monitor the rest of the housing unit, AFSCME Maryland said in a release Wednesday.
The plans state that officers should not be in recreational areas with inmates unless there is an emergency, leaving these areas without any in-person supervision. In the event of an emergency, officers should not enter the area until given approval from a supervisor and when there are a sufficient number of officers to address the situation.
“These new plans are a sad and dangerous attempt by DPSCS and WCI leadership to think they can offer recreation opportunities to incarcerated individuals with zero regard for the egregiously low staffing levels at the institution and the alarming danger these new protocols will put both inmates and officers in,” said AFSCME Maryland President Patrick Moran. “What if multiple units need a response? What if there are not enough supervisors? An emergency is going to happen and someone is going to get killed because officers aren’t able to respond in time and keep everyone safe.”
According to the proposed schedule, during day shift, an incarcerated individual will only receive one hour of recreation time every four days. During the evening shift, which runs from 4 p.m. to midnight, an incarcerated individual will only receive recreation time if there are a sufficient number of officers on duty — which remains highly unlikely given the dangerously low staffing during the day shift already, AFSCME said.
Violence in Maryland’s correctional facilities remain at an all-time high. Assault rates have nearly doubled in the last 5 years. In the first half of fiscal year 2026, Maryland State Police reported 11 inmate deaths at DPSCS facilities. DPSCS’s own reports show almost 2,500 total assaults in correctional facilities across the state since last July, with almost 200 serious physical or weapon assaults between inmates and almost 70 serious physical or weapon assaults on staff, AMSCME said in the release.
AFSCME Maryland represents thousands of correctional officers and staff across the state, including over 600 officers at Western Correctional Institution who are represented by AFSCME Local 898.
A 2023 staffing report conducted by AFSCME Maryland found that nearly 3,500 additional correctional officers must be hired in order to properly staff Maryland’s correctional institutions to keep officers and inmates safe and to provide inmates sufficient opportunities for recreation and rehabilitation.
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