The Eastern Correctional Institution (ECI) is a medium-security state prison for men located in Westover,

Somerset County, Maryland Somerset County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,620, making it the second-least populous county in Maryland. The county seat is Princess Anne. The county was named for Mary ...

, owned and operated by the

Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) is a government agency of the State of Maryland that performs a number of functions, including the operation of state prisons. It has its headquarters in Towson, Maryland, ...

. Eastern has a minimum-security Annex, completed in 1993, and housing some 560 inmates. The total capacity of the minimum- and medium-security sections is around 3,400. With an actual population of about 3,300, this is Maryland's largest prison. The facility is adjacent to the Somerset County Detention Center. In October 2016, federal authorities indicted eighty people as part of a scheme to smuggle drugs, telephones and pornography into the facility. Also while there the federal authorities investigated 6 different murders within the facility one of them resulting in one inmate being partially decapitated. The investigation led to the charge and conviction of an inmate Patrick Simpson#3378314 who was also under suspicion for 2 previous murders and for smuggling large amounts of illicit drugs and tobacco. Simpson subsequently pleaded out to assault with a deadly weapon and received an additional 2 years on his sentence to be served before his release.

Notable inmates

* Hadden Clark, child murderer, cannibal and serial killer

References

{{State prisons in Maryland Prisons in Maryland Buildings and structures in Somerset County, Maryland 1987 establishments in Maryland