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MD Death Row Inmates to be Transferred After Commutation

creative commons

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) - Maryland's four remaining death-row inmates would become eligible for transfer to medium-security prisons after Gov. Martin O'Malley signs executive orders commuting their sentences to life without parole.

They would lose their guarantee of single-bed cells, however. State prison agency spokesman Gerard Shields says some inmates prefer to have no cell mate.

All four men are housed at the maximum-security North Branch Correctional Institution near Cumberland.

Shields says that except for the requirements that they be kept in maximum security and housed in single cells, Maryland death-row inmates have no more restrictions than the other approximately 1,300 inmates at the institution.

The Democratic governor said Wednesday he will formally commute their sentences before he leaves office Jan. 21.

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.