Aug 29, 2018 4 min read

All state correctional institutions were placed under immediate lockdown after a rash of incidents involving staff becoming ill from unknown substances over the last few weeks, state Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel announced Wednesday afternoon. The most recent local incident occurred Tuesday night at SCI-Greene.

“The safety and security of our employees is my number one concern,” Wetzel said in a release. “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.”

Prisons are under indefinite lockdown, and mailrooms will be closed to mail not for legal purposes under further notice. Visits have been suspended. All employees will be required to use personal protective equipment, especially gloves, and all prisons will undergo training on situational awareness immediately, the release states.

Staff members have also been advised to be aware when parole violators or new inmates enter the prison.

Governor Tom Wolf said in a statement Wednesday night he spoke with Wetzel and the Department of Corrections continues to “work diligently to address the emerging issue of synthetic drugs in our prison system, and my office and I have been supporting his efforts.”

“It is our responsibility to keep all commonwealth employees safe while at work so that they return home each day to their families,” Wolf’s statement said. “I have confidence that the Department of Corrections, working with state agency partners and law enforcement, will determine the cause or causes of the recent sickening of staff and put in place the necessary protections and procedures to ensure staff safety.”

State Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, toured SCI-Fayette and SCI-Greene Tuesday as part of an unpublicized event with corrections officers and their union officials, according to a news release.

“As an elected official who’s in constant contact with those who work at the two large state prisons in the 50th Legislative District, I am well aware of staff’s safety concerns,” Snyder said. “Recently, corrections officers at both of these facilities were sickened by some unknown substance. These prisons should remain on lockdown until the DOC gets to the bottom of what’s going on and can implement changes.”

The lockdowns came on a day with several more reported similar incidents, and not just in Pennsylvania.

More than 24 corrections officers, nurses and an inmate at the Ross Correctional Institution in Ohio were taken to the hospital with possible opioid overdose symptoms Wednesday morning, according to local media.

Five staff members at SCI-Albion were hospitalized after becoming ill Wednesday morning. An officer processing an inmate that had violated parole reported feeling sick, the DOC said. When medical staff came to assist, nurses and an additional officer then began to feel effects. Two officers at SCI-Somerset reported lethargy Wednesday after escorting an inmate, and those staff members were also taken to the hospital.

An SCI-Greene employee was hospitalized Tuesday night after potential exposure to an unknown substance. The employee, who has not been identified, has since been released from the hospital, and toxicology results were negative, communications director Sue McNaughton said in an email. The incident remains under investigation.

Just after 9 p.m., the employee was taken by state car to a local hospital for potential exposure to an unknown substance. The officer was not in a cell at the time of potential exposure and was released from the hospital by 10 p.m. According to the email, only one employee was hospitalized from the latest incident.

SCI-Greene personnel declined to provide further information.

This is the second such incident at SCI-Greene within a month. After searching inmate belongings Aug. 13, four SCI-Greene officers were treated at WHS-Greene. Each officer was able to return to work that night. Following protocol, a hazmat team was called in to inspect the area, and the prison was locked down.

Several incidents involving employees becoming ill after contact with unknown substances have been reported since the beginning of August at prisons across the state, also including prisons in Mercer and Fayette. The Department of Corrections does not know if the incidents are related, but many of the reported symptoms have been similar and include a headache or dizziness and throat irritation or burning.