Clash between union and state over prison staffing heats up after discussions stall

by Will Hammann, Maryland Matters
July 22, 2026

Union leaders representing Maryland correctional officers met with state leaders Tuesday to address what they say is a staffing crisis that puts the lives of inmates and officers at risk, but said they left that meeting far apart from state officials.

The talks come amid heightened tensions between the state’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 3. In a news conference Tuesday afternoon, council President Patrick Moran called the state’s offer a “slap in the face,” and called on the state to address the issue.

“Sadly, once again, their offer was a slap in the face, and we are miles apart in terms of what’s needed to address the staffing crisis in our state prisons,” he said.

Flanked by union correctional officers from the state’s 13 institutions, Moran added that he’s “furious” that DPSCS refuses to acknowledge the impact of staff shortages on the conditions within facilities.

But Keith Martucci, the department’s social media and media relations manager, said in a statement that it’s an issue the agency has been addressing.

“The mission of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services is to ensure Maryland’s safety, including our hardworking staff, the public, and the people in our care,” Martucci wrote. “While corrections departments across the country face many of the same challenges, DPSCS takes pride in our tireless efforts to overcome those challenges to fulfill that mission.”

He said the department’s vacancy rate has fallen to 8.42% compared to 15.36% in 2022 before Gov. Wes Moore took office and Secretary Carolyn Scruggs was appointed. He also pointed to upgrades in technology and training to help improve safety in the state’s prisons.

But union correctional officers at the conference said they haven’t seen that translate to better conditions within the state’s prisons.

“Tell that to my colleagues who are forced to work another double and go another day without seeing their family, or worse, be wheeled to the hospital because we’ve been assaulted, stabbed, or even had our fingers bitten off,” said Sgt. John Feeley, an officer at Maryland Correctional Training Center in Hagerstown and president of the union local for several institutions in the region.

“Tell that to the families of those who are incarcerated, and why their loved ones have died, why there isn’t enough staff to provide medical and psychiatric services, why classes and programs and recreation time are getting canceled, and why we can’t even guarantee a shower, all because the department has done nothing to address the staffing crisis before us,” he said.

Violence among inmates has swelled in recent years. There have been 32 homicides investigated at state prison facilities since 2023 – more than half of all inmate killings recorded since 2015.

At Roxbury Correctional Institution in Hagerstown, eight inmates were stabbed in a brawl earlier this month. In May, two Roxbury inmates were killed, including Colin Wolf, 32, who was found dead in his cell. Wolf’s father said he was told by investigators that Colin may have been dead for hours, if not days, before his body was discovered, according to The Baltimore Banner.

The department’s been careful to specify that the issue of inadequate staffing was not connected to those tragedies.

“We want to be clear: This incident was not the result of short staffing,” Yianni Varonis, a DPSCS spokesperson, said of the stabbings in a statement on Friday. “Our operational assessments confirm that adequate security protocols were – and remain – in place, and that this event was unrelated to current staffing levels.”

But Moran said that at current levels, inmates often get only around an hour and a half out of their cells each day, limiting their opportunity to access recreation, chapel services and educational opportunities.

“That builds anger, that builds frustration, and then that spills out and affects our members who are trying to oversee and bring some calm to the situation,” said Moran.

Union members at the conference said that without enough staff, the department also must rely on short-term solutions, like making officers work excessively long shifts.

That’s evident in the department’s overtime expenditures, based on a February 2026 report by the Department of Legislative Services.

“In fiscal 2025, DPSCS had a total of $217.4 million in overtime expenses, an increase of more than 50% since fiscal 2021,” the report read. “The department had a total of 4.4 million overtime hours worked, representing 60.4% of the State’s total overtime costs.”

According to Martucci, “the Department hired 684 correctional officers in 2025 — more than in any other year over the last decade — an effort that continues into 2026. In the 2027 budget, no correctional officer positions were eliminated.”

Further west, institutions are losing officers, said Sgt. Tony Sines who represents union officers in two prisons around Cumberland.

“As of July 1, we have lost 100 officers, approximately 20% of the workforce from my region in the last year,” Sines said, adding that the institutions where his members work house an especially high rate of inmates with the most serious violent charges.

The union hopes that through their negotiations, the state will offer more pay and incentives to attract and retain officers, who they say can currently find a better deal elsewhere.

“Why stay at WCI [Western Correctional Institution] or NBCI [North Branch Correctional Institution] when you could go to a federal facility where they’re offering more money and you won’t be drafted over and over again?” Sines said.

Though Tuesday’s discussion bore no fruit, Moran said he’s ready to return to the table.

“We ask them to come back. Come back ready to talk, with real solutions,” he said.

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