Maryland prison violence shows early drop following body camera rollout, officials say

Some levels of violence in Maryland prisons, which have recorded among the highest homicide rates in American correctional facilities, dropped precipitously in the month since guards were equipped with body cameras for the first time, officials said.

The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services finished rolling out body cameras throughout Maryland’s prisons on July 2. That month saw a 34% decline in all assaults across the system compared to last July, said David Greene, the agency’s deputy secretary for operations.

Greene touted the drop in assaults when responding to a question at a media briefing about the body camera rollout at the Baltimore Central Booking & Intake Center Monday. He said the number of systemwide assaults recorded in July was the lowest for that month since 2023.

“We expect that the implementation of these body cameras will reduce violence inside of our correctional facilities,” Greene said.

The briefing Monday followed The Banner’s reporting that Maryland ranked among the nation’s worst prison systems for killings.

The homicide rate in Maryland prisons was nearly four times the national average last year. Since 2023, 32 incarcerated people were killed at state-run correctional facilities.

Corrections officials had begun the body camera rollout before The Banner’s reporting on the state’s prison homicide rate. Officials are nonetheless hopeful the devices will cut down on violence, among other benefits.

“The presence of a camera during an incident in and of itself acts as a deterrent,” Greene told reporters.

He described the cameras as widely popular with correctional officers, in part because they serve as an authoritative account of how officers perform their duties and interact with incarcerated people.

Guards are required to activate their body cameras when escorting incarcerated people individually, or when large groups are on the move for meals or outdoor recreation. They also must turn them on during major disruptions like fights. Still, they can record any interaction with an incarcerated person unless it’s during one of their medical appointments.

Sgt. Shawn Elliott of the Baltimore jail said he’s already noticing shifting behaviors among the incarcerated population since officers began wearing the cameras.

“It deters incarcerated individuals from doing certain things,” Elliot said, adding that the cameras make him and other officers feel safer. “Once they see the camera they tend to change their actions.”

The corrections department entered a 10-year contract with Axon Enterprises, a company that outfits law enforcement agencies with various technologies, for the cameras at an annual cost of $4.1 million. That contract includes the cameras, accessories and software.

Footage recorded on corrections officers cameras are stored indefinitely. Such video can be accessed on a computing cloud to look into incarcerated people’s complaints or as part of future criminal investigations and prosecutions.