Prison inmate death under investigation, Maryland’s second in a week (original) (raw)
The Maryland State Police are investigating the death of a state prison inmate in Hagerstown as a homicide, one week after another inmate died at an Allegany County facility.
The State Police Homicide Unit has not released the name of the suspect, another inmate, in the death of 27-year-old Kelvin Hite.
On Monday, correctional officers found Hite unresponsive in his cell at the Roxbury Correctional Institution, and EMS professionals later pronounced him deceased, according to a news release from the state police. Police believe Hite’s cellmate was in his cell at the time of death.
The investigation remains open, and the Office of the Medical Examiner will be conducting an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Hite’s death comes just one week after the death of Omar Valdez-Granados, a 23-year-old man who was incarcerated at the North Branch Correctional Institution.
Valdez-Granados’ death is also being investigated as a homicide, bringing the total of suspected homicides in Maryland state prisons to five this year, according to data compiled by the Baltimore Sun.
The prison system also saw seven inmate deaths during a two-month span in December and January. The state police’s homicide unit investigated 13 inmate deaths in state prisons during 2025.
Some criminal justice experts have told the Sun that the rise in inmate deaths signifies a need for more robust staffing and safety measures in state prisons. Nora Demleitner, a longtime criminal justice scholar and former president of St. John’s College, said last week that state officials need to release clearer data about how prisons are staffed and what contributes to violent crime in prisons.
“We really don’t have a good sense of what is being done and what has changed to improve security in prisons,” Demleitner said. “It is time for the head of corrections to come out and discuss both ongoing and pending changes.”
State officials have maintained that staffing in the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services has improved during Gov. Wes Moore’s term.
Department spokesperson Yianni Varonis told the Baltimore Sun that department vacancies fell from 17% in 2023 to about 8.4% in 2025, the lowest reported level in seven years. The department also expanded the capacity of their crisis de-escalation training program in March 2025 and provides counseling and rehabilitation services to inmates.
“The health and safety of DPSCS staff and incarcerated individuals is paramount,” Varonis said. “Addressing violence within our facilities requires a careful and deliberate approach that focuses on assessment, prevention and more proactive measures.”
Violent crimes in prisons, Demleitner said, could also be a symptom of Maryland’s incarcerated population being “too high for the facilities and staff available.” As of 2023, there were about 16,200 people in state prisons in Maryland. The state’s prison population peaked at 21,500 in 2012 and steadily declined until 2021; it has increased by at least 3% each year since.
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