Warden Turns in the Jail Keys After 41 Years

TOWSON, MD — When Kathleen Green first walked into the former Maryland House of Correction in Jessup as a counselor, the Vietnam War was coming to a close, Gerald Ford was president, and Frank Robinson became the first African-American manager in Major League Baseball.

Green is retiring as warden at the Eastern Correctional Institution in Westover, leaving in her wake rehabilitation programs to aid offenders and service projects to help the community she grew to love.

After graduating with a criminology degree from the University of Maryland, Green became one of the first two females to ever work in a Maryland prison.

“They did not want to hire us because they didn’t feel women should be working in male prisons,” Green recalled. “But we had the top scores.”

“We were less threatening to the offenders than the male officers,” Green added. “We could say to an offender ‘you have anger’ whereas if a male officer said that the offender would say ‘you’re questioning my masculinity.’”

Like most Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services administrators, Green worked throughout the state as several facilities gaining rank until she was appointed warden at Eastern Correctional Institution in Westover in 2004.

The urban Green took time to adjust to the rural Eastern Shore setting, she said.

“I thought ‘Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into’?” she said chuckling. “In hindsight, the best thing about the Eastern Shore is the people, good, solid people.”

The job as leader of the largest prison in the state with over 3,500 inmates, 850 employees, 660 acres of land and a $108 million budget required a lot of 60 hour weeks, Green said.

“Everybody looked out for each other,” Green said. “Everybody works to bring the next person up. It’s not just a job, they are committed to what they’re doing, invested in the community.”

Green points to bringing the America’s VetDogs program that involves inmates training dogs to help disabled veterans as a proud legacy.

“It was one of the most meaningful,” Green said. “You reap the benefits for the staff, the inmates and the veterans. It’s a win, win, win.”

Green’s name will last at the institution through the Green Garden, where inmates harvest tons of cabbage, eggplant, strawberries and squash to donate to the local poor.

Green has been instrumental in also coordinating inmate projects that clean and paint little league ball fields, clear debris from roads and blighted areas, paint fire hydrants, wash fire trucks and plant trees.

Green highlights the work with Salisbury College on gang conflict resolution and the school’s education collaborations as critical. “There are a lot of smart inmates,” Green said.

Colleagues, friends and family will hold a retirement celebration for Green on Friday. The mother of four plans to spend her retirement doting on her four grandchildren and staying active in the community by working on hunger programs, volunteering at the Catholic Charities Seton Center and collaborating with local officials on reducing heroin overdoses in the state.

“I have to stay busy,” Green said. “I have to have a schedule.”