The rate at which corrections officials are discovering handmade weapons in Maryland’s prisons and the state-run Baltimore jail system more than tripled in the most recent fiscal year, surpassing controlled substances as the most common type of contraband recovered.

The state corrections department recorded a discovery rate for weapons in its facilities at about 13 per 100 average daily population — or roughly 13 weapons discovered for every 100 prisoners and detainees, according to a budget analysis by the Maryland Department of Legislative Services.

The analysis described that as an “extremely unusual” 375% increase from the previous fiscal year, noting that the spike “poses a grave and immediate threat to the safety of inmates and staff.”

During a budget hearing on Thursday, Carolyn Scruggs, secretary for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said the increase was “due to a greater emphasis on conducting frequent and unannounced searches.”

When pressed by a lawmaker to explain where the weapons were coming from, Scruggs explained that prisoners are often making them from the buildings themselves.

“When you think of our facilities, think of very aging facilities that need a lot of repair, and that have, for a long time, even going back to when I was in uniform, not received that funding that was needed to care for it,” Scruggs said.

The corrections secretary used the example of windows that need to be replaced.

“They (prisoners) will take a piece of window that is broken and they will scrape it on the concrete until it becomes sharp and becomes a weapon for them,” Scruggs said.

Scruggs also used the examples of bedsheets, chairs, eating utensils and fixtures as other materials that have been fashioned into weapons.

The budget analysis noted that there was an overall 39% increase in contraband recoveries in the most recent fiscal year. Of those, weapons accounted for about 44% of the recoveries, surpassing controlled substances, which made up 34%.

The tide of handmade weapons comes amid a similar surge in assaults between prisoners and against staff members. At a budget hearing earlier in the month, Scruggs attributed that to an increased flow of “undetectable contraband.”

Meanwhile, the correctional officers' union, AFSCME Maryland Council 3, points to low staffing rates and excessive overtime shifts as the driving force behind the increase in contraband and assaults.

Maryland prison officials monitor for contraband using x-ray machines, metal detectors, physical searches and K-9 units, Scruggs said during the hearing.

The corrections secretary said that contraband interdiction teams work with intelligence units and even the maintenance department, which can help determine the origin of manufactured weapons and “works to eliminate access to such materials.”