Pepper spray possibly provided
The state’s corrections officers are hoping new legislation that arms them with pepper spray will keep them and inmates safe while working in prisons.
House Bill 2084, written by state Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, and state Rep. Timothy Mahoney, D-Uniontown, was approved by the state Senate Wednesday and is now awaiting Gov. Tom Wolf’s signature.
Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association President Jason Bloom said he expects the ability to arm officers with pepper spray will decrease the amount of assaults in prison.
“I believe it will help all the way around, both with assaults on the staff and inmate-on-inmate altercations,” he said. “It is a good thing for everybody inside the institution.”
Bloom said if two inmates are fighting, the guards can use the pepper spray to break up the altercation safely.
“Then my officers aren’t running the risk of becoming injured themselves,” he said.
Bloom previously raised concerns for the safety of corrections officers at SCI-Greene prison, following three publicized incidents at the state prison in Franklin Township within the last year.
Last November, a corrections officer was hospitalized after being stabbed more than a dozen times by an inmate wielding a shank.
The identities of the inmate and the injured corrections officers, who has since recovered, were never released.
In March, an officer trainee was slashed by inmate Angel Muniz, who was serving 19 ½ to 39 years in state prison for third-degree murder in Philadelphia in 1998. In April, a corrections officer was injured while trying to break up a fight between two inmates.
SCI-Greene, which holds about 1,700 prisoners, and SCI-Fayette, with just more than 2,000 prisoners, are both maximum security, meaning many of the prisoners there are serving lengthy sentences for violent crimes.
“Currently at 105.8 percent of capacity, our state prisons are bursting at the seams and our officers are grossly outnumbered,” Bloom said. “It’s our hope Gov. Wolf will sign this legislation immediately so the Department of Corrections can begin the process of adding this needed layer of safety for our officers. It’s one more advantage we desperately need in our daily interactions with the most dangerous criminals in Pennsylvania.”
An audit report released last week from State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale measured the amount of violent crimes committed within all 26 of the state’s prisons from January 2015 through March 2016.
During that period, SCI-Greene had 34 assaults on staff members, 21 inmate assaults and 69 inmate fights. SCI-Fayette had 32 staff assaults, 37 inmate assaults and 92 inmate fights. The state’s average for assaults on prison staff was just more than 65 incidents per month.
“We know it’s a dangerous profession,” Bloom said. “When you actually see that number on paper – that’s high.”
Amy Worden, a press secretary for the state Department of Corrections, said some of the prisons, including Fayette, already started implementing the use of pepper spray for some of their officers.
“There’s already been some evidence that it is reducing the number of violent incidents,” Worden said. “It doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be any violence, it just reduces the prospect that staff and other inmates be injured during altercations.”
Snyder said her bill will “put pepper spray on every corrections officer’s belt.”
Worden said the total cost of supplying the pepper spray to all institutions will be $45,000. It was not immediately known when it would be fully implemented.