AFSCME Maryland declared a staffing crisis in Maryland state prisons in July 2026. The union represents approximately 6,000 correctional officers across the state. AFSCME Council 3 President Patrick Moran said plainly that the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services refuses to acknowledge that a staffing crisis exists. The department's position, according to Moran, stands in direct conflict with the numbers the union has assembled.
The union says 3,500 additional correctional officers are needed to adequately staff Maryland's state facilities. That figure represents more than half of the current union membership. The gap between where staffing stands and where it needs to be is not marginal — it is structural, and the union contends it creates daily physical risk for both officers and incarcerated individuals inside those facilities.
The Violence Numbers Behind the Declaration
The data the union presented is specific. According to AFSCME figures, there have been 2,500 assaults on staff or inmates since July 2025. Maryland state records show 22 inmate murders occurred between 2024 and 2025. Maryland State Police data adds another layer: at least seven inmate homicides occurred inside state facilities during just the first seven months of 2026 alone.
That trajectory matters. Twenty-two murders across a full two-year window, then seven in under seven months in 2026 — the pace has accelerated. Union leadership has publicly placed responsibility for that trajectory on the DPSCS and on Governor Moore's administration. Moran and other union representatives met with state officials on the morning of July 21, 2026, to discuss the situation directly. The meeting did not produce a resolution.
Moran described the state's latest offer to the union as a 'slap in the face.' He said the two sides remain 'miles apart.' No next meeting date has been announced publicly by either party.
A Shortage Playing Out Across Multiple States
Maryland is not alone. Correctional staffing shortages have been reported across multiple U.S. states in 2026, and several jurisdictions have taken distinct approaches — with mixed results.
North Carolina launched a fast-track hiring pilot program in 2026 to address its own shortage. State officials noted that North Carolina ranked 49th in the country in starting salary for correctional officers, a figure that helps explain the difficulty in recruiting. Philadelphia's Department of Prisons reported a 14% vacancy rate as of May 2026, with 263 budgeted positions sitting unfilled.
In Michigan, State Senator Sue Shink reintroduced Senate Bill 1135 in July 2026. The bill would expand pension options for corrections officers, targeting the retention problem rather than the front-end hiring pipeline. In New York, State Senator Tom O'Mara held hearings in February 2026 on the consequences of staffing shortages inside New York's correctional facilities. The Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission released a report in late 2025 examining how staffing gaps and programming delays affect prisoner outcomes. In Alabama, the Department of Corrections filed for summary judgment in a federal lawsuit, pointing to hiring events as evidence of good-faith efforts to address prison violence.
Each state is working from a different angle — legislation, pilot programs, litigation defense, commission reports. None of those approaches has resolved the core problem at a national level.
What the Union Is Demanding and Where Things Stand
The union's position is straightforward: hire 3,500 more officers, acknowledge the crisis exists, and negotiate in good faith on compensation. On all three points, according to Moran, the state has not moved.
The union's public accountability push — directing blame explicitly at the DPSCS and the governor's office — signals that the dispute has moved past internal grievance channels. AFSCME's decision to declare a formal staffing crisis and publicize the violence data creates a record. It also creates pressure ahead of any future contract talks or legislative sessions.
For officers currently working inside Maryland's facilities, the immediate reality is a workforce that is down thousands of positions, operating in facilities where the assault count has hit 2,500 in roughly a year. The union's contention is that those two facts are directly connected — that short-staffed facilities produce the conditions in which violence rises and officers bear the physical cost.
Negotiations have stalled. The department has not acknowledged the crisis. The numbers, as the union presents them, keep moving in the wrong direction.
