ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Randallstown man already serving a life sentence for a prior murder has been sentenced to an additional life term for killing his cellmate inside a Maryland prison last year.
Wallace Dudley Ball, 64, was sentenced Monday to life in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in the February 2025 killing of a fellow inmate at the Jessup Correctional Institution. Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Pamela Alban ordered the sentence to run consecutively to Ball’s existing sentence of life plus 30 years for an earlier homicide.
Prosecutors said the killing occurred shortly before 7 p.m. on Feb. 21, 2025, when correctional officers conducting routine cell checks discovered the victim, Warren Michael Griffin, a 61-year-old inmate, unresponsive on the floor of a cell in Building F. Authorities found a cord wrapped around the victim’s neck and bloodstains inside the cell. Ball, the victim’s cellmate, was immediately taken into custody.
Investigators said Ball later provided a written confession admitting that he punched the victim and strangled him with a string. A handwriting analysis determined the statement matched Ball’s known writing. Evidence collected at the scene included blood-like staining on Ball’s clothing and hands, along with DNA swabs, photographs, and other physical evidence.
Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said the case underscores growing safety concerns within Maryland’s correctional facilities.
“It is a tragedy that this defendant has taken not one, but two lives,” Leitess said in a statement following the sentencing. “Inmates should be able to serve their time with safety and dignity. The number of recent homicides committed in the Division of Correction is alarming, and it should be a wake-up call that inmate and correctional officer safety needs to be greatly improved.”
Leitess added that while the case resulted in a conviction, prosecution after the fact offers limited reassurance. She said her hope is that dangerous inmates are housed appropriately to prevent further violence.
The state was represented by Assistant State’s Attorney Shane Nolan. The investigation was led by the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit in coordination with the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Intelligence and Investigative Division.
Ball was previously convicted in a separate homicide stemming from a 1994 fatal shooting during a burglary at a Baltimore County residence. He was initially sentenced to death following a jury conviction in 1996 after the trial was moved to Charles County. After multiple appeals, his sentence was later modified to life imprisonment plus 30 years.
Ball entered his guilty plea in the prison killing on Dec. 16, 2025. He was formally sentenced Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.
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