Jessup (pronounced JESS-up) is an unincorporated town and census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland and Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The population was 7,865 at the 2000 census. The center of population of Maryland is located in Jessup. It was the location of Maryland House of Correction, which was one of the Maryland Department of Corrections prison complexes until it closed in 2007. The community has a little-used stop on the Camden line of the MARC commuter rail service. The town's prison is referenced several times in the HBO original series, The Wire.