HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) – Maryland's four remaining death-row inmates would become eligible for reduced security classification after Gov. Martin O'Malley signs executive orders commuting their sentences to life without parole.

Prison agency spokesman Mark Vernarelli said Tuesday the maximum-security inmates could be reclassified as medium-security. But they would continue to be housed in a maximum-security institution.

All four men are housed at the North Branch Correctional Institution near Cumberland.

Prison officials say that except for requirements that they be kept in maximum security and housed in single cells, Maryland death-row inmates have no more restrictions than the prison's other approximately 1,300 inmates.

The Democratic governor said Wednesday he will commute their sentences before he leaves office Jan. 21. The administration formally began the process Monday by publishing a notice in The Daily Record newspaper.

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