Sep 5, 2018 6 min read

WAYNESBURG – State Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel is hoping state institutions that have been under some form of lockdown since Aug. 29 will return to normalcy soon following a rash of incidents involving drugs allowed by what he called “gaping holes in security.”

Wetzel and Gov. Tom Wolf visited Greene County on Wednesday to meet privately with SCI-Greene corrections officers and announce new safety measures to be implemented throughout the state’s 25 institutions to address employees being exposed to drugs and other toxic substances.

“Pennsylvania’s corrections officers put themselves in harm’s way to make our commonwealth safer, and it is up to us to provide them protection from harm,” Wolf said at the onset of a news conference outside the facility. “I met with several of the corrections officers here at SCI-Greene today and I want to assure them that their concerns are valid and were heard.”

More than 30 DOC staff members in three weeks have been exposed to drugs, and Wetzel said the synthetic drug known as K2 and Suboxone are some of the primary culprits, but staff members have also seen fentanyl and mixtures of drugs entering the facilities. Wetzel said it wasn’t pleasant to admit that state correctional facilities have a drug problem, and incremental changes will not address these issues.

“This plan is not to reduce the amount of drugs,” Wetzel said. “This plan is to eliminate drugs inside our prisons, and while we may never attain that, we’re going to work our butts off to get there.”

State officials have identified seven possible methods drugs have been brought into facilities: mail, legal mail, visits, staff, books or publications, new commitments and even drones.

Wetzel previously said a liquefied version of K2 may be coming into the facilities soaked into the paper of letters or books. The inmates then eat or smoke it. He added Wednesday that since it is odorless and liquid, it is easier to smuggle in than other substances. In some cases, it was even being mixed with printer ink and printed on paper.

In response, effective immediately, no state correctional institution will accept mail. Instead, personal inmate mail will be shipped to a centralized location in Florida, scanned and sent to inmates electronically. Facilities will print the mail and deliver it to inmates.

Wetzel said the process might take two or three days at first, but within 90 days mail should be delivered to inmates the day after it has been received. All inmate mail should now be shipped to Smart Communications/PADOC, Inmate Name/Inmate Number, Institution Name, P.O. Box 33028, St. Petersburg, FL, 33733.

Mail collected during the lockdown will be returned to sender, and any mail sent to facilities directly will also be returned to sender.

Legal mail will be copied in front of an inmate by staff wearing protective equipment, and original copies will be preserved for 15 days.

Visiting room staff will be doubled, and there will be a lifetime ban at state institutions for any visitor caught with contraband, along with visit suspensions for inmates in possession of drugs or those who test positive for drugs.

No outside books or publications can be sent to inmates. The DOC will take over the purchase of books, and will also start to transition to e-books in the institution libraries. The new system will be rolled out in about three weeks, Wetzel said.

Several locations currently employ drone detection methods, which will be rolled out to each facility in the “very near future,” Wetzel said. He added that there has not been a significant issue with drones, but a few have been detected at some facilities.

The DOC is looking at the process for accepting parole violators and new inmates. All institutions will have at least a body scanner and two ion scanners within 90 days. The state is also implementing a drug tip line, 717-728-4743, for anyone, including inmates, to report possible drug activity in state facilities.

Wetzel added if the measures outlined Wednesday were insufficient, more steps would be taken to prevent drugs from entering state correctional institutions. He said it was not a good rehabilitative environment with “gaping holes in security.”

“The vast majority of inmates in our system do not do drugs, just like the vast majority of visitors don’t bring drugs in,” Wetzel said. “An overwhelming majority of staff don’t bring drugs in, but we have to prepare for that one.”

Wetzel said there didn’t seem to be long-term effects for staff exposed, and all have returned to work.

Wolf said the recent illnesses of the staff was unacceptable and frightening.

“It needs to be stopped. It is our responsibility to keep all commonwealth employees safe while they’re at work so that they go home at the end of their shifts to their families. I have confidence that the Department of Corrections, the Secretary of Corrections, working with state agency partners and law enforcement, will determine the cause or causes of the recent sickenings of the staff here throughout our system.”

Corrections facilities began opening back up slowly starting last week, with inmates able to take showers Friday and Saturday, phone calls back on Saturday and group exercises in some locations Monday. Wetzel hoped the lockdown could be lifted next week, as long as there were no additional exposures.

All state correctional institutions were placed under lockdown Aug. 29 after several staff members were sickened by unknown substances over the last few weeks. On Aug. 28, an employee of SCI-Greene was taken to the hospital Tuesday night after potential exposure to an unknown substance. That employee, who has not been identified, was released from the hospital, and toxicology tests were negative.

That was the second reported incident at SCI-Greene in August. On Aug. 13, four officers at the facility were sickened while searching an inmate. They were treated at WHS-Greene and able to return to work the following night.

Other incidents were also reported at state prisons in Albion, Benner, Somerset, Rockview, Camp Hill, Houtzdale, Fayette and Mercer counties as well as the Butler County Prison. Allegheny County was the latest correctional facility to be placed in lockdown after corrections officers and medical personnel became ill Sunday night from an unknown odor or substance.