Protest disrupts tree lighting in Harrisburg

Demonstrators object to policy for searching mail to state prisons.

“Wolf, don’t be a Grinch. End cruel mail policies now!” — protest banner

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania’s Capitol Rotunda is a grand public space, making its tiled floor and marble staircase ideal backdrops for speeches — and protests — throughout the year.

The Christmas season is no exception, as Gov. Tom Wolf and school children discovered Thursday.

When Wolf went to light the tree in a noon ceremony, his speech was briefly drowned out by protesters calling him Grinch. They were upset he has not rescinded a months-old state prison directive that slows the delivery of inmates’ mail, which state corrections officials say has been used to spread dangerous illicit drugs.

“Have a heart, have a heart,” Patricia Vickers, wearing a Santa hat, yelled from the audience. Others stood on the Rotunda steps and unfurled a banner — “Wolf, don’t be a Grinch. End cruel mail policies now!”

Wolf looked up from the podium but never missed a beat. He kept reading from his notes about the Douglas fir tree’s 18-foot dimensions and how seniors from across the state had made the decorations.

Then Capitol police slid past the tree and up the steps to escort the protesters outside, where they continued their First Amendment right to protest government.

Afterward, Wolf said he could not tell who or what the protesters were shouting about during the ceremony. In reply to a reporter’s question, Wolf said he stood by the Department of Correction’s policy.

“We obviously have a safety problem that affects the prisoners and the staff and we want to do something about that to keep everyone safe,” Wolf said. “I think we are trying to do it the right way and we are working with different groups to protect everyone’s constitutional rights.”

In early September, Wolf and Corrections Secretary John Wetzel changed the way inmates receive mail following a 12-day lockdown of all state correctional institutions. It was in response to the flow of synthetic drugs, primarily K2, a chemically made drug, that was being dripped and dried onto inmates’ letters and family photos, prison officials said. It was sickening staff and leading to unruly behavior among inmates.

Around the same time, prison officials in Ohio and Florida also reported a rise in medical and security problems linked to synthetic drugs.

Wetzel halted the direct delivery of mail and paperback books to inmates. All mail must be sent to a Florida facility, where it is opened, inspected and scanned into a computer to be printed on different paper and mailed back to Pennsylvania.

In the cold outside the state capitol, Vickers handed out fliers with Wolf dressed as the Grinch and proclaiming: “Repeal the DOC policies now!”

Vickers, a Philadelphia resident, said her son Kerry Marshall has been in prison 30 years following his murder conviction while he was a juvenile. There’s no excuse for what he did, Vickers said, but she still loves him. It’s not right for the state to punish all inmates for the actions of others, she said, by denying them the chance to receive a real Christmas card or family photograph. Family is often all inmates have to help them onto the road to reform and the reprinting of mail interferes with those connections, she said.

“We are trying to get Wolf’s attention,” Vickers said.

It was the first Christmas lighting protest in about six years, said Troy Thompson, spokesman for the state Department of General Services. The last one occurred when citizens gathered outside after the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman, in Sanford, Fla.

“Everyone has a right to the First Amendment,” Thompson said, adding others have a right to enjoy the tree lighting ceremony, too.

Christmas carols were performed by the Quakertown High School Varsity Singers, and Santa Claus greeted youngsters.

The Rotunda tree — harvested from Crystal Spring Tree Farm in Lehighton — will be lit from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. until Jan. 7. The Capitol’s outdoor trees will be lit from 5 p.m. until midnight.