State prisons on lockdown, SCI-Greene employee taken to hospital for exposure
All state prisons were put on lockdown Wednesday following a rash of employees sickened from exposure to substances in recent weeks.
An employee at the State Correctional Institute at Greene was taken to a hospital Tuesday night for possible exposure to a substance – the seventh local prison employee to be sickened from exposure in 15 days.
The officer was taken to a local hospital by a state car at about 9 p.m., according to Susan McNaughton, communications director of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
No other information on the incident was immediately released.
Since Aug. 13, seven employees at SCI-Greene and the State Correctional Institute at Fayette have been taken to hospitals for exposure.
“The safety and security of our employees is my number one concern,” Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said in the lockdown announcement. “Our state prisons, especially those in the western part of the state, have experienced recent incidents in which employees have been sickened and we need to get to the bottom of this issue now.”
The lockdown means inmates will be locked in their cells, where they will receive food and medicine. All visits are suspended for the duration of the lockdown.
Prison mail rooms will also be closed to non-legal mail until further notice.
Prison employees will also receive immediate training on situational awareness. Use of personal protective equipment, especially gloves, is mandated.
Employees are advised to use caution extra caution with newly committed inmates and those who have violated parole.
Last week, the state Department of Corrections announced it is “taking aggressive measures to address new threats to staff and inmate safety within the state prison system.” This included additional training on protective equipment, hazardous material response training, increasing inventory of protective gear, purchasing safety disposal equipment for unknown substances, expanding the use of body scanners, purchasing K-9 Narcan injectors for drug-sniffing dogs, expanding the K-9 unit and reviewing procedures for inmate mail processing.
“Attempts to introduce narcotics through the mail have increased significantly in recent years,” the DOC press release said. “Illicit substances are often secreted under stamps, in pictures or saturated into the paper itself, making detection of drugs a time-consuming and difficult undertaking.”
State police are conducting tests on samples of the substances that sickened employees to determine their identity.
“The Department of Corrections is not immune to the drug epidemic that has affected record numbers of individuals on the outside, one that has been made more complex and more dangerous to those simply exposed to the drugs by the introduction of various synthetic compounds,” the release said.
“As new toxic substances are introduced that are more difficult to identify, the DOC is working to eliminate the avenues for contraband to enter the system.”
Four guards at the Waynesburg prison were sent to the hospital Aug. 13 after becoming ill from exposure to an unknown substance during a routine search of an inmate’s property at about 7 p.m. The prison was put on lockdown. The officers were released from Southwest Regional Hospital later that night.
On Saturday, two corrections officers were exposed to substances in separate incidents at the Luzerne Township prison. Saturday morning, a guard was exposed to a substance during an inspection and administered Narcan. He was taken to a hospital for further treatment. That night, an officer developed bumps along his hairline after escorting an inmate who had apparently been under the influence. He was taken to Uniontown Hospital and released a few hours later.
“We will do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of our staff,” Wetzel said. “The steps taken today, in addition to those announced last week, demonstrate the Wolf Administration’s commitment to the safety and security of all commonwealth employees.”