Hospital could readmit prisoners

Jessup Correctional Institution inmate Kelvin Poke’s armed escape while receiving treatment at Laurel Regional on Jan. 2 had prompted the hospital’s decision. A similar escape occurred on Nov. 13, when Kamara Mohamed overpowered a female guard and seized her gun. Using a Taser, police were able to subdue Mohamed, who was facing auto-theft charges.

‘‘[Poke] didn’t really escape from the hospital, because we don’t have any kind of secure environment,” hospital president Douglas Shepherd said. ‘‘He escaped from custody [of the correctional officers]. When an inmate escapes, it’s the officer’s responsibility to secure the prisoner.”

Shepherd said he plans to meet with county, city and Maryland Department of Corrections officials to discuss what protocol changes the law enforcement agencies will make so that inmates might eventually return as in-patients to the hospital.

‘‘We won’t accept them as in-patients until this is resolved,” Shepherd said.

The closing of doors to inmate in-patients at Laurel Regional will have a minimal impact on the hospital [and] the prison, said Mark Vernarelli, director of public information for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

‘‘There were only 20 scheduled inmate visits to Laurel Regional Hospital in November, which is a very small number,” Vernarelli said. ‘‘And probably many of them [were follow-ups to] 911 calls. ... We do a very small volume of non-911 business, if you will.”

The hospital will continue to treat inmates on an emergency basis in the emergency room, as it must do so by law, but it will not admit them to its other facilities, Shepherd said.

Vernarelli said the medical providers or prisons would determine the hospitals to which inmates will be taken for admission.