Prisoners are more likely to be killed in Maryland than in nearly any other state, with a homicide rate last year that was nearly four times the national average, based on available data gathered by The Banner.

Since 2023, 32 incarcerated people in state-run correctional facilities have been killed. That’s more than all of Maryland’s neighboring states combined.

State correctional leaders largely frame the problem of prisoners killing other prisoners as a national one, describing Maryland’s facilities as beset by a population increasingly made up of people serving long sentences for violent crimes.

The corrections department’s top official said she has made changes to its senior leadership, stepped up efforts to keep drugs out of prisons and rolled out body cameras for its officers, among other measures.