From staff reports
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel announced the immediate lockdown of all state correctional institutions because of reports of multiple staff members sickened by unknown substances over the past few weeks.
“The safety and security of our employees is my number one concern,” Secretary Wetzel said. “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.”
Wetzel announced the following steps, effective immediately and indefinitely:
- All DOC state prisons are locked down.
- All DOC mailrooms are closed to non-legal mail until further notice.
- Use of personal protective equipment, especially gloves, is mandatory for all employees.
- Training on situational awareness will be held immediately in all institutions.
- All visits are suspended for the length of the lock down.
- Staff also are being advised to use extra caution when parole violators and new commits are received into the prison system.
The state prison system is not alone in its battle against illegal substances and employee/inmate sickness. It was reported today that 20 correction officers and inmates at Ross Correctional Institution in Ohio experienced possible opioid overdose symptoms.
Ohio prison guards, nurses inmate, treated for drug exposure
The Associated Press
The individuals, who included one inmate, started showing symptoms of an overdose around 9 a.m. at Ross Correctional Institution, said patrol spokesman Lt. Robert Sellers.
They were administered naloxone, a drug used to combat overdoses caused by opioids such as heroin or fentanyl. The prison is about 44 miles south of Columbus. Sellers said the patrol made 300 doses of naloxone available if needed.
Contraband fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, is suspected, possibly dispersed into the air by a fan, said Sellers, who emphasized investigators were still trying to determine what happened.
Inmates were evacuated from the unit where the exposure occurred, and a hazmat team from the Columbus fire department was summoned to clean up the affected area.
Messages were left for the prisons system and the union representing correctional officers.
Contraband drugs including opioids are an ongoing issue for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and Ohio jails.
In May, a former milk deliveryman was accused of hiding marijuana, tobacco and cellphones inside milk cartons and smuggling them into a prison in southwest Ohio. He was sentenced to house arrest.
In September 2017, the Richland County Jail in Mansfield started operating a body scanner to detect drugs. Officials there monitored 26 opioid-related withdrawals in July 2017.
In February 2017, four inmates overdosed in two days at Pickaway Correctional Institution south of Columbus, requiring the use of CPR and doses of an anti-overdose drug as guards scrambled to revive the men.
