Evening star., 1945-06-03
19 Hurt in Riot
Al Jessups Over
Meat Shortage
Dining Hall and Cells
Wrecked in Protest
OF 600 Prisoners

Sixteen prisoners were wound
ed and two guards and State
policeman were beaten and
stabbed late yesterday at the
Maryland House of Correction at
Jessups during three-hour riot
over the scarcity of meat in the
prisoners supper stew.
The rioting, in which 600 to 800
prisoners-all short-termers-par-
ticipated, started in the dining hall
and was quelled only when State
policemen fired on the rioters with
sawed-of shotguns. Fire hoses and
tear gas had proved futile.
Virtually every window in the
prisoners section of the institution,
in Anne Arundel County, was
smashed, as was most of the fur
niture in the cell blocks. At the
height of the riot, quickly quelled
fire was set in the prison shirt shop
and guards and State police were
doused with buckets of hot water.
The shooting started when group
of prisoners rushed a squad of
State policemen, who were attempt-
ing to herd them into the cell
blocks on the second floor of the
institution. Police said none Of
the prisoners were seriously
wounded.
Guard Stabbed in Back.
w. H. Dean, one of the six guards
in the dining hall when the riot
started, was stabbed in the back
by Negro prisoner and then beat
en- over the head.
The prisoner then dragged him
into one of the cell tiers, where he
lay semiconscious for an hour and
half among the rioters before he
was rescued by State police and
taken to st. Agnes Hospital in Bal
timore. His condition there was
said to be serious.
Thomas Campbell, another guard
in the dining hall, was beaten but
not seriously injured. Trooper Hugh
j. Kavanagh of the State police was
stabbed in the shoulder with a brok-
en- bottle.
F.! The prisoners were wounded in
| the legs, arms and chests by scat
tered shots from the riot guns. About
| half of the wounded prisoners were
colored.
Begun by Signal.
Military police from Fort George
G. Meade and number of Balti-
more city policemen were sent to
Jessups to reinforce the 30-odd
State policemen there. w..
The riot started apparently BY
pre-arranged signal at 4:20 pm.
when a group of prisoners in the
white section of the dining hall
overturned the tables and sent their
dishes Gathering to the floor. I'M
mediately other tables were thrown
over and the more than 900 men
in the hall began shouting and
throwing plates, cups and benches.
The attack on the two guards fol-
lowed.
The rioting prisoners then rushed
from the dining hall into the cell
blocks, all on the second floor of
the institution, and were in COM
plete control of full wing of the
building on that floor for the next
three hours.
| AS soon as he was notified of the
outbreak, DR.. j. Leroy Wright, war
den, called the State police for help
and notified the superintendent Of
prisons.
=, Hot Water Is Weapon.
BY the time the State troopers
began arriving-they had been sum-
moned from a radius of 40 miles
the prisoners had practically fin
ished demolishing the furnishings in
the cell blocks. They tore up sheets
and metal pictures from the walls
and whatever they could lay their
hands on they hurled at the win
dows.
The fuse box controlling the elec-
trio lights on the second floor was
short-circuited and caught fire.
About the time the State police
arrived the prisoners were filling,
buckets and tubs with hot water and
hurting the missiles at any one who
attempted to walk up the steps to
the second floor. Some of the
rioters spiked" the hot water with
disinfectant. Others hurled broken
glass down the stairway.
At 6 pm. Warden Wright and
Harold E. Donnell, State super
intendent of prisons, went to the
head Of the starts and warned the
rioters that if they did not quiet
| (See RIOT page A-O