A rash of staff sickness from exposure to “unknown substances” has spurred a lockdown in Pennsylvania prisons, but there are no reports of illness among Vermonters incarcerated in that state, officials said Thursday.
The illnesses – which reportedly may be related to tainted drugs – have spurred a statewide lockdown in Pennsylvania’s prisons. Vermont inmates at the state’s Camp Hill prison also are affected by that lockdown, which restricts prisoners’ movement, mail and visitors.
But both Lisa Menard, commissioner of the Vermont Corrections Department, and Tom Dalton, executive director of Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform, said they had received no reports of sickness among the state’s 229 inmates in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Corrections Department spokesperson Amy Worden couldn’t say whether any Vermont inmates were involved in the incidents. But she said that, in general, “there have been a couple of incidents where inmates have experienced or have shown symptoms of drug intoxication in recent weeks.”
“However, remember, it’s the inmates who are bringing the illicit drugs into the system, and it has been the staff having contact with those inmates that has created the situation that has sent 30 of our staff members to the hospital,” Worden said Thursday.
It’s not clear what’s been making Pennsylvania prison staff sick, though news reports say a synthetic cannabinoid may be to blame in some cases. In a press release last week, the corrections department also acknowledged the possible role of synthetic drugs.
“The Department of Corrections is not immune to the drug epidemic that has affected record numbers of individuals on the outside, one that has been made more complex and more dangerous to those simply exposed to the drugs by the introduction of various synthetic compounds,” officials said at the time.
With staff across the state continuing to report illness, Pennsylvania Corrections Secretary John Wetzel on Wednesday announced the “immediate lockdown” of all Pennsylvania prisons because “we need to get to the bottom of this issue now.”
Officials said the lockdown means, among other things, that prison mailrooms are closed to “non-legal mail” and visits are suspended.
The Pennsylvania incidents, combined with potentially drug-related sicknesses and deaths at prisons in Ohio and Arkansas, have gotten the attention of Vermont corrections officials. In Ohio, a mixture of heroin and fentanyl has been blamed for the sickness of 29 people at a Chillicothe prison where nausea, sweating and drowsiness were reported.
Menard said officials are “very concerned” about what’s happening in those states but have not yet seen evidence of any similar issues in Vermont’s prisons.
“We are always concerned about any type of illicit substance coming into our facilities because of the danger,” Menard said. “We have not heard specifically about things like synthetic cannabinoids coming in. We have not heard specifically about fentanyl coming in.”
The Pennsylvania lockdown comes as Vermont is preparing to remove inmates from that state following reports of deaths, abuse and poor treatment at Camp Hill. Prisons in Rhode Island and Mississippi have submitted bids to be the next destination for Vermont’s out-of-state inmates.
The Vermont contract with Pennsylvania expires in October, and Menard said officials still expect to move inmates from Camp Hill at that point. But she did not specify a destination.
“We are very close to finalizing a new contract,” Menard said. “I can’t tell you who it will be with yet.”