Inmate Called Too Risky for Md. Facility

The Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup is Maryland's only maximum-security psychiatric hospital. It houses 89 people charged with first-degree murder or attempted first-degree murder, most committed after being found not criminally responsible, or insane.

Nonetheless, a state prosecutor is arguing that Perkins might not be equipped to deal safely with Kevin G. Johns Jr.

Baltimore County Assistant State's Attorney S. Ann Brobst said in court that she could not "imagine a more dangerous person in the state of Maryland."

Johns, 24, was first sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2002 after he strangled and cut an uncle he said sexually abused him. Two years later, he strangled his teenage cellmate. For that he was shipped to Supermax prison in Baltimore on a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Then, in 2005, he strangled another inmate, Philip Parker, on a prison bus, with two state correctional officers sitting no more than 10 feet away.

He was found guilty of that this month, and Harford County Circuit Court Judge Emory A. Plitt Jr. ruled that he was not criminally responsible. He has bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, hallucinations and fetal alcohol syndrome.

Under Maryland law, Johns's defense attorneys argue, Plitt's ruling means their client must be committed to the custody of the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which as a matter of course sends such defendants to Perkins.

But Brobst, who had sought the death penalty, suggested that Johns was too dangerous for Perkins, according to defense attorneys. At her request, Plitt postponed Johns's commitment; a hearing is scheduled for tomorrow. Brobst did not return phone messages seeking comment.

Johns remains incarcerated at Supermax, where he receives no treatment or medication, his attorneys said.

One attorney, Harry J. Trainor Jr., said the issue of Johns's placement could have repercussions beyond his client. If Johns is not placed in a state hospital, it could set a precedent and invite state mental-health officials to choose which defendants they will agree to take as patients, Trainor said.

If sent to Perkins, Johns would remain there until doctors certify to the court, and the court agrees, that he is no longer a threat to himself and others, Trainor said. Johns would then be remanded to the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to serve out his earlier sentences, he said.

In a 42-page ruling that amounted to a rebuke of the prison system, Plitt wrote that Parker's killing was "preventable." Just hours before the crime, Johns said in court that he would kill again, Plitt wrote. Even so, prison guards failed to notice that Johns's hand restraints were not properly fastened. Plitt also found that 16 days before the slaying a state psychologist overturned a decision by a state psychiatrist that Johns needed emergency evaluation.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said officials there could not comment because the Johns matter is pending in court.