Maryland parole and probation agents are exposed to unacceptable workplace hazards that include the possibility of “being shot, punched, kicked, scratched, stabbed, strangled, bit and/or spit on, when interacting with parolees, probationers and individuals on mandatory release,” according to a state labor department citation recently issued to the corrections department.

The citation, issued late last month and recently reviewed by The Baltimore Banner, hits the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services’ Division of Parole and Probation with a “serious” violation: not providing a job or workplace “free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees.”

It references the May 2024 fatal stabbing of Agent Davis Martinez, which has led to leadership changes, a halting of home visits to parolees and the subsequent grilling of corrections officials by state lawmakers. But the citation also refers to other, unspecified assaults that “have resulted in injuries including sprains, contusions, lacerations, fractures and concussions.”

Union leaders for the parole and probation officers have repeatedly asked agency leaders for health and safety improvements. And a bill filed this session would allow for state inspectors to fine agencies for failing to uphold safety standards and hold public officials who knowingly falsify safety records personally accountable.

The state’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and its Department of Labor did not immediately comment on the citation, but an entry on a federal labor violations database corroborated its authenticity. The inspection was opened just days after Martinez’s death, according to the database.

The citation requires the corrections department to take a number of steps to address hazards of workplace violence in its parole and probation division, including developing and implementing a workplace violence prevention program that includes “accountability elements” touching on the performance of management, hazard assessment and tracking data.

It also calls for physical changes to employee work stations that would prevent people from jumping over parole and probation division employees' desks and using items such as hole punchers and staplers as weapons.

Other recommended solutions include the real-time GPS tracking of parole and probation agents, the use of two-way radios and establishment of trained responses to emergencies. The citation also instructs the parole and probation division to increase and maintain staffing levels to allow for home visits to be conducted by two agents instead of one.

The corrections department has been instructed to address the violations by March 3. There is no proposed monetary penalty.

On May 31, local authorities found Martinez dead in a registered sex offender’s Chevy Chase apartment. Martinez had not reported to work after a home visit with Emanuel Edward Sewell. Sewell has been charged in connection to Martinez’s death. Police radio chatter obtained by The Banner revealed that Martinez had reported Sewell as uncooperative.

The full House Appropriations Committee will hear from corrections department officials Friday. Lawmakers had already scheduled the rare full committee hearing after expressing their dissatisfaction, calling the secretary’s responses to their questions “woefully inadequate” and called out the lack of action to protect staff.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

Baltimore Banner investigative reporter Justin Fenton contributed to this article.