“Safety in the jail has been compromised, and not just for the staff alone. Even among the inmates, they don’t feel safe like they used to be,” said Olajide Oshiyoye, one of five current officers to speak with the News4 I-Team for this story.

“It’s a runaway machine, and we don’t have the wheel anymore,” added John Dewitt, a former officer who also spoke to News4.

The officers stressed they spoke out under the protection of their union rights and their views do not represent jail leadership. Some of the officers have worked at the jail, which largely houses people awaiting trial, for decades and say the change is stark.

“We’ve lost so many officers,” Oshiyoye said. “We are losing more than we are getting.”

Corrections facilities across the country are grappling with a shortage of personnel – a problem officers say only worsens as more head for the exit door, leaving those behind to shoulder tougher and longer shifts alone.

But records obtained by News4 show that, while corrections staffing is down in every local jurisdiction the I-Team asked, the pain is felt acutely in Prince George’s County.

There, data show staffing has dropped from 446 at the start of 2020 to just 310 officers this year, with the county now seeking to fill about 175 vacancies.

Comparatively, records show Fairfax County lost nearly 60 officers in the same time frame, dropping from 474 officers in early 2020 to 416 this year. As of April, the county had 84 vacancies.

Montgomery County reported losing just 17 officers over the three-year period, from 285 to 268, with 30 open positions.

D.C. did not respond to the I-Team’s request.

“They’re going to other jurisdictions. They’re going to a lot of different jurisdictions, too,” said Brad Hudson, who said he’s worked for Prince George’s County for more than 25 years. “What does that say? It says it’s not the profession … It’s our county, in particular.”

The officers said the shortage has led to them routinely being required to work 16-hour days, multiple days a week – a problem they said has led to exhaustion and increases the risk of an officer falling asleep on the job.

“We really need some type of relief, some type of help,” said Tammie Owens, a veteran with more than 30 years at the jail.

Jail administrators declined an interview but in a statement said, “Public safety agencies across the nation have seen personnel shortages and this is true as well for the Prince George’s Department of Corrections.”

The statement continued, “As an essential agency, PGDOC is never closed and must be staffed around the clock, throughout all three shifts. Because of this, mandatory overtime is sometimes necessary to ensure the jail is appropriately staffed and the safety of inmates and employees is maintained.”

But some of those still on staff say their safety feels tenuous, at best, with officers accustomed to working in pairs often now working alone. As a result, they said the jail often operates on lockdown, like a prison.

A jail spokesman confirmed visitation was canceled at the jail this past weekend due to short staffing. Asked about the frequency of lockdowns, the spokesman directed the I-Team to file an open records request.

Hudson said inmates historically dislike lockdown but now “they might accept maximum security conditions, because it protects them.”

In February, jail leaders assembled a special team to sweep the facility for contraband and recovered more than 66 makeshift weapons, pills and unauthorized medication.

The officers applauded the work of the special unit that recovered the weapons over a two-week period, but said it was “terrifying” to see the reality of what the inmates had stored inside their cells. Some blamed short-staffing for not having caught the weapons earlier.

“We had seen them before, but not this quantity of them at one time,” Hudson said of the contraband.

“It signaled how unsafe they must feel,” Stephon Blalock said about the inmates. “We just don’t have the staff to maintain that security.”

In the past year, the jail has had a series of troubling incidents. Last June, an inmate was stabbed to death inside the jail. Then in December, four inmates were sent to the hospital after a physical altercation.

Blalock says he feels especially worried for inmates held on nonviolent charges.

“Some are just people that just got caught making bad decisions and they’re having to serve a little time,” he said, adding, “Why should they come in and feel like their lives are threatened and not safe simply because we’re understaffed?”

In a statement jail officials said, “As the Prince George’s County Department of Corrections (PGDOC) adapts to post-pandemic times and transitions back to what is known as pre-COVID-19 jail operations, a facility-wide shakedown was conducted to identify if any contraband items existed that could compromise the safety of the inmate population, employees and the public.”

A jail spokesman said 47 inmates were departmentally charged and added “PGDOC will continue to conduct routine shakedowns throughout the facility to maintain everyone’s safety.”

Faye S. Taxman, founding director of the Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence at George Mason University, said while jail staffing nationally has always been lean, the field is now suffering from a confluence of factors.

“You have people who are retiring out of the system. You have people who do not want to work in that environment. You have high demands on staff to work multiple shifts. And therefore, people, you know, get frustrated and exhausted,” she said.

Taxman said the solution is multi-pronged and includes reducing jail populations. But she also said governments should increase pay and supports for officers, such as with programs to rotate them in and out of tough assignments.

“We don’t invest in our frontline staff very well – police officers, correctional officers, teachers – and there are techniques we can do to really build up those frontline staff,” she said.

Taxman said the conditions of jails should be a concern for everyone, noting roughly 20% of the American population has had some experience with the criminal legal system.

“A lot of people are impacted now,” she said.

In a statement, the county said it’s been “aggressively recruiting” through career fairs, school visits, community events, social media and word of mouth. It now also offers a sign-on bonus of $3,000 for rookies – a figure that will soon increase to $5,000 – and $5,000 for correctional officers with experience.

The current officers pointed out that is less than what is offered to new cops in the county, who are eligible to receive up to $10,000.  

Hudson said he used to tell new officers that things would improve.

“I believed things were going to get better because I saw how they were before,” he said, then paused. “I’ve stopped telling them that. I can’t tell them that anymore.”

This story was reported by Tracee Wilkins, produced by Katie Leslie, shot by Steve Jones and Anthony Pittman, and edited by Jeff Piper.

Deputies at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center said on Feb. 4 they found toothpaste covering the window of Richard Piland’s cell and they needed to get him out of the cell.

Piland refused to put his hands through a slot in the door so he could be handcuffed, according the sheriff’s office, so a deputy opened the slot and sprayed pepper spray into the cell.

Piland can be heard coughing in body camera video obtained by his lawyer and shared with News4.

Once the 21-year-old inmate complies, the body camera video then shows deputies put handcuffs on him and strap him into a chair so they can take him to a shower.

According to the lawsuit, Piland was fully restrained and could not move.

Deputies then wheel Piland into the shower. One deputy then says, “I’m not really sure which one is which so good luck to you,” according to the lawsuit.

Four seconds after the water comes on, Piland can be heard screaming out in agony.

“No! No, please!” he screams.

Piland’s attorney said he was under the water for several seconds and suffered first- and second-degree burns.

“This was an intentional act,” attorney Jonathan Halperin said. “So, it really can’t be described reasonably or objectively as anything other than torture.”

“Unknown to the deputies attempting to decontaminate the inmate, the mechanical system regulating the water temperature failed, which allowed the water temperature to exceed the 110-degree maximum. This resulted in burns to the inmate’s upper arm,” a statement from The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office says in part. “The investigation revealed mechanical failure was the sole cause of the inmate’s injuries.”

“It was more than just the burns, it was psychological. It was terrible what they did to him,” Halperin said.

Piland has been in the jail since April 2021 on a sexual assault charge. His family said he has serious mental health issues and has been evaluated for competency several times.

“The guards involved should be investigated, as should any supervisor that allowed this to be brushed aside. After all, they have a duty to protect the prisoners they patrol. Not only did they not do that, but this action seemed criminal. Piland’s mother, Mindy Gunnels Beach, said on her Facebook page.

The incident, described as a “physical altercation,” occurred in an open cell at about 6:20 p.m., the Prince George’s Department of Corrections said in a release.

Four of the inmates were taken to the hospital for minor injuries. Two of them were apparently stabbed.

The injured inmates were returned within hours to the Department of Corrections.

The two inmates that were not injured were taken to the maximum-security housing unit.

The incident is under investigation.

This is a developing story. Stay with News4 for more updates.

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Jazmin Valentine alleges some nurses working for the jail’s contracted medical provider, Pennsylvania-based PrimeCare Medical, Inc., said she was withdrawing from drugs, not in labor, and some jail staffers and medical staff laughed at her, saying she was just trying to get out of her cell late at night in July 2021 at the Washington County jail in Hagerstown.

Valentine claims she punched the walls of her solitary confinement cell, which did not have blankets or sheets, during her most painful contractions and removed what she believed was her baby’s amniotic sac and slid it under her cell door to prove she was about to have a baby.

A fellow inmate, hearing Valentine’s pleas, called Valentine’s boyfriend, who called the jail pleading with staffers to help her, the lawsuit said.

The nurses also ignored a concern raised by a jail deputy about Valentine but he did not contact any superiors, the lawsuit said. He discovered Valentine holding the baby girl in her cell about 15 minutes after she was born just after midnight on July 4, 2021 and an ambulance was called to take them to the hospital, according to the lawsuit.

Because of the unsanitary conditions in the cell, the baby developed a type of staph bacteria infection that is resistant to many antibiotics, the lawsuit said.

Valentine, who had never given birth before, said she feared that her baby would die and she might bleed out while delivering her. But realizing that no one was going to help, she said she was determined to try to deliver the baby on her own.

“In my brain anything could happen,” she said of her fears. “I felt like I was in the hands of the devil, honestly.”

The lawsuit alleges that Washington County, Maryland, its sheriff department and sheriff, as well as nurses and deputies at the jail violated Valentine’s rights under state law and the Constitution.

County spokesperson Danielle Weaver said the county had no comment. PrimeCare did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Valentine was over eight months pregnant when she was arrested for an alleged probation violation and taken to the jail the day before she went into labor, the lawsuit said. Valentine was released several days later and her baby is doing well, she said Tuesday.

The lawsuit is similar to one filed in 2019 by a woman who gave birth alone in Denver’s jail the year before, claiming that nurses and deputies ignored her pleas for help for five hours. Surveillance video released then by the law firm representing Diana Sanchez, which is also representing Valentine, showed her lying down on a narrow bed, crying out in pain and delivering a baby boy. The city eventually settled the lawsuit.

Following Sanchez’s delivery, the Denver County Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jail, said it changed its policy to ensure that pregnant inmates who are in any stage of labor are immediately taken to the hospital. Previously, decisions about whether to move a pregnant inmate were left to jail nurses but deputies were authorized to call for an ambulance for someone in labor.

David Lane, whose law firm is involved in both cases, said he believes they highlight problems both of privatizing health care behind bars and the attitudes of correctional administrators.

“As long as jail and prison administrators view inmates as animals these kinds of things will continue to happen,” he said.

Casey White, 38, has been indicted on a murder charge for the shooting death of Vicky White, Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly announced Tuesday. The pair’s disappearance from an Alabama jail in April sparked a national manhunt that came to a bloody end in Indiana where Casey White was captured and Vicky White died.

The indictment alleges that during the escape, ”White caused the death of Vicky White, who died from a gunshot to the head.” The indictment does not specify who pulled the trigger. Authorities have said Vicky White died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

White will plead not guilty at an arraignment hearing, defense attorney Mark McDaniel said in a statement. The defense previously pointed blame at Vicky White for the escape, saying Casey White was in her “care and custody” the entire time of his disappearance from jail.

Casey White in April walked out of an Alabama jail in handcuffs in the custody of Vicky White, the assistant director of corrections at the facility, prompting a national manhunt for the pair. On the day of the escape, Vicky White, 56, told co-workers she was transporting the inmate to a mental health evaluation but authorities later learned no such appointment existed.

The two were eventually discovered in Indiana where Casey White was captured. Authorities said Vicky White shot herself in the head.

Alabama law allows a murder charge if someone, “causes the death of any person” while engaging in certain other felonies such as escape or if the person, “recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to a person.”

Friends and colleagues had said they were bewildered by the involvement of Vicky White, who had worked for the sheriff’s office for 16 years, with the inmate who was already serving a 75-year prison sentence for attempted murder and other crimes.