By Luke Parker
Baltimore Sun
HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Eight inmates at Roxbury Correctional Institution were stabbed and hospitalized Saturday after a gang fight at the Western Maryland prison, according to the state’s correctional officers’ union.
Linda He, a spokesperson for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Maryland Council 3, told The Baltimore Sun that a brawl broke out Saturday evening between members of MS-13 and the Black Guerrilla Family.
The injured inmates, she said, were sent to separate hospitals. Their conditions as of Tuesday were not clear. It was also not known whether any of the inmates would face additional charges for Saturday’s incident.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said that no injuries that were incurred were considered life-threatening and that there were no fatalities associated with the incident.
AFSCME officials said Tuesday that the weekend violence at Roxbury “is unfortunately nothing new,” a byproduct of continued, critical staffing needs.
“Without sufficient staffing levels, both staff and incarcerated individuals face risk of violence, injury and even death every single day,” AFSCME Maryland wrote in a statement.
State data shows that assaults in Maryland’s prison system are rising, spiking even, in both rates and severity.
Between 2024 and 2025, the state reported that 22 inmate deaths were classified as homicides, a total nearing half of all prison homicides since 2015.
The 14 that took place last year became the highest annual count in the last decade.
These jolts in incidents come as the state continues to try to stabilize staffing levels at its correctional facilities.
Although the state reported that job vacancy rates at its prisons had been cut in half since the Moore administration took over in 2023, department data show that the number of allocated officer positions has decreased by about 18% between 2019 and 2025.
AFSCME officials say the drop, which involves consolidating positions, has led to burnout among staff members and to more dangerous conditions for everyone in the state’s correctional institutions.
A report last year from the union found that all of Maryland’s correctional institutions were operating at a ratio of more than 100 inmates per officer.
AFSCME officials said Tuesday that the state’s continued reliance “on short-sighted and unsustainable solutions” such as mandatory, 16-hour shifts is taking away from “what’s actually needed” — more employees.
“Without addressing the low pay and dangerous working conditions that staff face, DPSCS will continue to struggle with record assault and homicide rates in state facilities, and incarcerated individuals will not receive the programming and rehabilitation they need,” the union wrote.
The spokesperson for DPSCS pushed back on the claim that staffing was a contributing factor to the incident at Roxbury.
“This was not the result of short staffing. Our operational assessments confirm that adequate security protocols were, and remain, in place, and that this event was unrelated to current staffing levels,” DPSCS said in its statement.
“DPSCS has invested approximately $6.8 million in workforce incentives to strengthen recruitment, retention, and operational staffing across the Department. At DPSCS, eligible new Correctional Officers may receive a $5,000 hiring bonus if they successfully complete the Correctional Officer Academy , pass the probationary period, and achieve one year of satisfactory service,” DPSCS continued in its statement.
“Additionally, to support our valued correctional officers and facilitate critical transfers to high-need areas, DPSCS and AFSCME are working towards addressing workplace conditions and staff retention and recruitment issues. Regrettably, this critical support measure remains on hold while the Union insists on pushing for additional measures,” the spokesperson said in DPSCS’ statement.
This article has been updated with additional information from the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
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