Prisoner stabbed to death in Hagerstown after months without an inmate killing

A prisoner was fatally stabbed at the Maryland Correctional Training Center in Hagerstown, the first inmate killed since May after a spate of deaths at the start of the year.

The inmate, who was not immediately identified pending notification of his next of kin, was found with apparent stab wounds in his housing unit at the Maryland Correctional Training Center in Hagerstown on Monday night, state police said.

The man was declared dead by emergency medical personnel at the prison, police said. They did not provide additional information but said the investigation was “active and ongoing.”

The Banner reported this summer that prisoners are more likely to be killed in Maryland than in nearly any other state, with a 2025 homicide rate nearly four times the national average.

Since 2023, 33 incarcerated people in state-run correctional facilities have been killed — more than all of Maryland’s neighboring states combined.

The number quadrupled between 2023 and 2025, from three to 14, and there were seven prisoners killed in the first five months of this year.

Union officials say critical staffing shortages in state prisons have contributed to the rise in killings by creating dangerous conditions, including insufficient supervision and programming. State correctional leaders have sought to frame the problem as a national one, with challenges including a spike in smuggled synthetic drugs as well as problems related to prisoners’ mental health.

Since 2023, the Maryland Correctional Training Center has had one other inmate killing, that of 36-year-old Wenhui Sun.