State prisons locked down after 29 are hospitalized

After an Albion, Pennsylvania, prison rushed five employees to the hospital on Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections ordered a statewide lockdown of its prison system.

The Albion episode was one of 17 cases that have terrorized the western part of the state since early August. Twenty-nine prison staff members have been hospitalized from “unknown substances” and nine prisons have been affected, two on Wednesday morning, according to Sue Mcnaughton, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Communication director.

Effective Wednesday, she said, all state prisons were locked down indefinitely, all visits suspended, and all mail rooms closed for nonlegal mail. “It’s definitely going to be more than a day,” she said. “It’s going to be a good while.”

The department has been combating violence and drugs in its 25 Pennsylvania facilities.

Last week, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel announced new protocols to detect narcotics and other illicit substances, including purchase of body scanners for processing new inmates and expanding the unit dedicated to searching community corrections facilities.

Affected employees have reported feeling sick after routine activities like searching a cell or escorting an inmate through the prison, with symptoms like dizziness, lethargy, scratchy throats, and headaches, according to Mcnaughton.