Community rallies to support ECI staff and inmates

Princess Anne, Md. – Over 50 people came together in person and at least 65 joined online to raise awareness for what they are calling a crisis at the Eastern Correctional Institution.

The event featured remarks by 75-year-old Ronnie Dryden, a former assistant warden at ECI and a current member of ECI’s advisory board. He said severe understaffing at the prison is impacting the safety and well-being of staff as well as inmates.

“It’s just not safe,” he said. “There’s not enough people down there to watch the inmates, watch the movement. It’s ungodly what’s going on.”

According to data from the governor’s office, there were 102 inmate deaths within prisons statewide last year, with one reported by ECI. Almost 10% are cited as homicides and a little over 5% are suicides. From 2024 to 2025, there have been 22 inmate homicides within prisons.

“They did they didn’t get convicted of a death sentence. They got they got convicted and were sentenced to a few years,” Dryden said. “22 inmates. Can you imagine? That’s wrong, that’s wrong, dead wrong.”

Dryden said he hoped it wouldn’t take a staff member also dying for changes to be made.

State legislators from Maryland’s Eastern Shore Delegation also attended to hear from family members of both ECI staff and inmates.

“I’m here tonight not only to hear about the concerns, but I would expect that we are going to come out with some specific recommendations,” State Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R – District 38) told WMDT. Carozza’s district includes Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester Counties. “I will be taking those recommendations directly to the governor and to the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety.”

Carozza was joined by Del. Barry Beauchamp (R – District 38B, Wicomico County), Del. Wayne Hartman (R – District 38C, Wicomico and Worcester Counties) and Del. Sheree Sample-Hughes (D – District 37A, Dorchester and Wicomico Counties). Sample-Hughes the issue goes beyond partisan politics.

“It’s a people issue,” Sample-Hughes said. “It’s not only the persons who are incarcerated. It is also the persons who walk up to ECI each and every day just to do their job.”

Jamesina Greene is the founder and president of A Mother’s Cry, a nonprofit that supports mothers of incarcerated individuals. She came to speak despite recovering from her fifth spinal surgery.

“It’s not just impacting the correctional officers and staff. It impacts the inmates and the families,” she said in an interview with WMDT. “The entire community is being impacted, and there is no way I could not speak out about this.”

Greene also has a son incarcerated at ECI. She said more staffing will help keep her son safer as well as benefit the community as a whole.

“It is said that when your loved one is serving time, the entire family is serving time,” she said. “In order to have healthy communities, we have to have healthy prisons.”

In a statement, Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services officials said the department shared their correctional officers’ commitment to safety, including that of staff, the public, and “the people in our care.”

In an email statement to WMDT, a DPSCS spokesperson said:

“The Department is committed to making sure that our prisons, correctional officers, and incarcerated individuals are safe—and while we have made progress, we know there is more work to be done. Despite nearly 1,800 correctional positions being eliminated before this Administration took office, most of those lost positions have been restored; and last year, we hired more correctional officers than any year in the last decade. The Department has also identified solutions to continue addressing staffing challenges and remains committed to working with the Union on a path forward.”

However, several ECI staff members, speaking under anonymity for fear of retaliation at Thursday’s rally, said the hiring process is flawed.

Dryden said he is able to act as a voice for them since he is retired.

“We need changes in the hiring procedure. That’s the main thing right there to harm procedure. Nobody can get in because it’s that stringent,” he said.

Ronald Sterling retired from ECI on March 1 of this year. He said he left because he felt conditions were unsafe and overworking brought stress.

“You don’t know how it is in the prison unless you’re there. It’s a thankless job. And, I think the officers do as much as they possibly can,” he said.

For Greene, conditions for staff and inmates are intrinsically linked and can impact public health overall.

“Even if you don’t have a loved one behind the wall, you’re still being impacted,” Greene said. “Your tax money is paying for the overtime that the staff members are having to do because there’s a staff shortage. So, the whole community period is being impacted by what’s going on at ECI.”

All legislators in attendance said they are open to working more with DPSCS to see how to support ECI staff.