The Roxbury Correctional Facility in Hagerstown was locked down Tuesday morning after a correctional officer was assaulted allegedly by an inmate, according to a Department of Public Safety and Corrections official.

The officer was taken to an outside medical facility for treatment. The unidentified inmate is facing charges due to the incident according to DPSCS spokesperson Mark Vernarelli, but it’s too early to tell what those charges will be.

Patrick Moran, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 3, said the corrections department is woefully understaffed and officials are worried that if things don’t change, something worse could happen.

He pointed to an incident last week at the Eastern Correctional Institute near Princess Anne, in which five officers were injured. Moran said during that incident, officers were outnumbered by the inmates.

“Someone’s going to potentially get killed here and that’s our biggest concern and worry, that we make sure that everyone is going home in the same condition that they came to work,” he said.

Vernarelli declined further comment for this article.

Moran said union officials are extremely concerned with what happened today and want to make sure that the prison is as safe as possible.

“This has been an ongoing problem now for at least a decade. Almost a decade ago we had the legislature lined up to provide more funding for DPSCS for more officers,” he said. “The Hogan administration came into office and cut that out, so there’s been this constant problem throughout the last eight to 10 years.”

Moran said the department is understaffed by 1,000 officers.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly attributed the report of the stabbing to a DPSCS official. The official called the incident an assault, while representatives from AFSCME called it a stabbing.