Pennsylvania prisons step up safety efforts, confront 'toxic substances'

Aug. 22--Pennsylvania prisons increase safety precautions for uptick in illicit drugs and assaults, Gov. Tom Wolf's administration announced today.

The protocols come as state police investigate how staffers were sickened by exposure to unknown substances this month at three prisons in western Pennsylvania. But prison officials believe the toxins were linked to drugs being traded among prisoners and causing an uptick in inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-staff assaults.

"The safety and security of staff and inmates is paramount to the Department of Corrections," Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said in a statement. "Whether the threat is drugs or staff assaults, the agency is working vigorously to combat these threats on many fronts."

According to the department, the staff assault rate has inched up by 4 percent in the first half of 2018. But the overall downward trend in staff assaults continues and remains lower than it was 25 years ago.

The Corrections Department's plan to crack down on the drug trade and violence:

* New training for how to use protective equipment when conducting searches and processing inmate mail or other items. The training, along with extra equipment, is for corrections officers, maintenance, and food service staff who handle inmate clothing or property.

* New hazardous material handling training for in-house firefighters.

* Purchasing safety disposal equipment for unknown substances in mailrooms and elsewhere

* Add more body scanners at state prisons and community corrections centers. Body scanners are at SCI Coal Township and soon SCI Huntingdon on a pilot basis.

* Add more drug-sniffing dogs and buy more anti-overdosing drugs for animals.

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