Md. Inmate Pleads Guilty In Officer's Stabbing
CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) -- A state prison inmate in Maryland is getting another 20 years added to his life sentence for stabbing a correctional officer at the maximum-security North Branch Correctional Institution near Cumberland.
Richard Crawford, 45, was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to first-degree assault in the August stabbing of Herbert Hilliard.
After the attack, the state workers union released an unsigned letter an inmate had sent to a supervisor several days earlier, threatening harm to Hilliard unless Hilliard was moved to another cell tier.
The prison's security chief was reassigned because Hilliard wasn't informed of the threat, as required by prison policy.
Warden Bobby Shearin was fired last month for alleged leadership failures resulting in distrust and safety risks.
The attack followed a series of inmate assaults on officers at the prison.
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