At the Roxbury Correctional Institution in Hagerstown, the 41-year-old fencing and security system is in such bad shape that it sways during heavy winds.

The prison’s fences, which traverse about 13,000 feet around the perimeter of the facility and 3,400 feet of its interior, are rife with rusting bases and crossbeams, multiple fence posts close to failure, and chunks of razor ribbon that become so brittle in severe cold weather that they “typically crack and fall off,” according to a recent budget analysis by the Department of Legislative Services.

The analysis notes that the 12-foot-high inner fence is short of the 16-foot national standard for a medium-security facility, and that staff at the prison have reported that prisoners “have been able to hide near the guard towers, rendering themselves virtually invisible to the officers in the tower.”

The problems with Roxbury Correctional’s aging fence system were exacerbated after it was heavily damaged during a March 2024 storm, according to the analysis.

In October last year, the correctional officers’ union, AFSCME Maryland Council 3, complained that the prison administration had been pulling officers from already understaffed ranks to watch the fence.

The legislative analysis made reference to this complaint, saying that the state’s correctional facilities “are already severely understaffed and cannot afford to assign personnel to guard deteriorating perimeter systems.”

And while the prison in Hagerstown might be the most severe example of shoddy fencing at Maryland prisons, it’s not the only one.

The legislative analysis — which examines the state corrections department’s requests for funding capital projects in the upcoming fiscal year — notes that “perimeter security remains a widespread problem” in the Maryland prison system. And yet, it says, the state’s correction department has not developed a fence replacement program and “continues to drop security improvements” from its capital improvement plan.

“The approach to the issue appears to involve addressing emergencies as they arise and rolling security projects into larger facility capital plans,” the analysis concludes.

The analysis notes the mounting costs to maintain and rehabilitate Maryland’s correctional facilities, which it describes as “old and deteriorating, putting at risk the safety of the inmates, staff, and Maryland’s communities.”

The average age of the 18 correctional facilities run by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services is about 48 years-old, the analysis said. The corrections department operates with about $9 million in annual funding for critical maintenance, which the analysis says has been “level-funded for the past several years.”

The backlog for corrections facility maintenance is nearly $75 million, representing more than 28% of statewide facility maintenance backlogs.

A capital project to fix the fence at Roxbury Correctional is estimated to cost nearly $36 million and is slated to be completed in January 2028. Another $61 million project would replace the perimeter security fence system at Eastern Correctional Institution on the Eastern Shore as well as replace the hot water system built in 1987.

The corrections department told the legislative analyst that each of its prisons’ fences last about 25 to 30 years, and that there are other prison fencing systems in need of updating or replacing not currently included in the capital improvement plan.

Given that the Maryland corrections department has 18 facilities and each fence replacement takes about three years to complete, the analysis reports, “the agency stated that maintaining adequate perimeter security will require them to begin a fence project every other year.”

The corrections department estimated that will cost about $34 million every two years for the next 30 years, the analysis noted.

Not just fences

In addition to its security problems, the corrections department’s aging facilities are also “plagued by” heat and water outages, the analysis reported.

Some of the state’s older facilities are heated by steam and radiator systems, while others use gas-fired and electric boilers.

The analysis notes “numerous system failures” in the past year, including 53 emergencies related to heat or water in its facilities in the fiscal year 2024, and 76 so far in fiscal 2025 to date. Those emergencies cost the state $7.3 million and $8.7 million, respectively.

The revelations in the analysis help to corroborate several complaints about inadequate heat at state prisons that incarcerated people sent to The Baltimore Banner over the winter. Corrections officials often push back against those complaints.

The Banner has also covered environmental issues at city jail facilities run by the state, such as oppressive heat and sewage backups.

The analysis concludes that “consistent issues with heat and hot water have serious implications for health and safety of the incarcerated population and correctional staff.”

“Not addressing the matter in a timely manner could force DPSCS to relocate inmates and potentially open the state up to litigation,” the analysis said.

The corrections department said it plans to “implement a life cycle replacement strategy as soon as possible before catastrophic failure results in facility closures,” the analysis said.

“According to the agency’s calculation of facility needs, getting DPSCS out of its current emergency-driven maintenance cycle would require $68 million per year for the next 10 years.”