A corrections officer at a women’s prison in Jessup pleaded guilty to misconduct in office after she was found to be involved in a romantic relationship with an inmate.
Ajee Xavier Myers will serve three years of probation, one of which is supervised, and will resign her position at the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women, Judge Donna Schaeffer ruled in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court on Tuesday.
“If you comply with the terms of your probation, you won’t see me again; if you violate the terms of your probation, you’ll end up back before me. …So just do what you’re supposed to do, and you won’t have to come back,” Schaeffer said.
According to court documents, Myers, a 29-year-old from Hanover, had been employed as a dietary officer for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services since 2020. In that role, she prepared food, oversaw the kitchen and supervised up to 17 inmates.
Since at least September, Myers was romantically involved with one of those inmates, who was serving time for an assault conviction. Over numerous months, Myers broke multiple prison policies and engaged in inappropriate behavior with the inmate, prosecutors said.
According to court records, Myers brought the inmate into the kitchen area to spend time with her on at least one occasion. The pair engaged in more than 700 recorded phone calls, many of which contained discussions of their intimate relationship. Myers also spent $100 on the inmate’s phone account to pay for the conversations they had.
In November, Myers became suspicious of another prisoner she believed was having a relationship with the inmate with whom she was involved. Myers then threatened the prisoner she perceived as a “romantic rival,” commenting to another inmate that she had “the upper hand” and that the rival needs to “stay away.”
Myers was charged with one count of misconduct in office and arrested in January. She was released on her own recognizance a short time later.
In 2019, 20 people, including inmates and officers at the Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup, were charged with smuggling drugs and other contraband into the facility. One of them, Patricia McDaniel, a dietary officer like Myers, pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering charge and was placed on three years of supervised probation after serving jail time.
The plea deal was brought forward Tuesday by Zachary Norfolk and Pilar Rodarte of the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, who did not immediately respond for comment.
Myers and her attorney, Benjamin Herbst, declined to comment.
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