HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association is raising major safety concerns happening inside state prisons. The corrections officers are asking state lawmakers to step in and do something to make their jobs safer and hold inmates accountable for assaults they say are happening inside state prisons.
"There's no accountability for bad behavior inside our prisons," said PSCOA President Larry Blackwell.
Blackwell says since January 1st, 2020, there have been more than 35 assaults against corrections officers in state prisons. He says the biggest problem is what the PA Department of Corrections considers major assaults against officers. He says, punching or something called 'gassing,' where an inmate throws feces or urine on an officer isn't considered a 'major assault,' and doesn't typically get included in assault statistics.
"Don't tell me, don't tell us, that these assaults are not major," said Blackwell. "It's not simple, it's not something that needs to be brushed off. It's a major act of violence inside the prison."
Blackwell and corrections officers are now calling on state lawmakers to provide greater oversight of the PA DOC to ensure there is accountability of inmates assaulting officers.
"We're going to keep moving, pushing forward that there's some accountable inside the prisons to account for these misconducts that are happening and keeping the people safe," said Blackwell.
FOX43 reached out to the DOC for comment on the correction officers concerns:
"The safety of staff within our facilities is of utmost importance. No assault is acceptable. Prison jobs can be challenging and dangerous, and we appreciate the work our employees do to ensure a secure and safe environment.
The DOC has made significant strides in reducing inmate-on-staff assaults over the past several years. The inmate-on-staff assault rate in 2019 is 20 percent lower than it was in 2015, which indicates our employees and inmates are safer now than they were just five years ago. The department categorizes assaults into three types: major – requires medical attention outside of the facility; throwing – involves the throwing of liquids, feces or objects, and; general – any other type of assault.
We constantly monitor the populations of our facilities and transfer inmates throughout the system to balance any population concerns. The DOC uses a variety of methods to track trends in the system, and we take necessary steps to work to reduce assaults and violence and to provide our employees with tools and skills to do the same. All of the DOC officers carry pepper spray and all staff have been trained in assault management application, interpersonal communications, de-escalation techniques, mental health first aid, crisis intervention and more. The DOC also recently made protective vests available to employees.
In addition to systemic enhancements and changes made over the past two years, the DOC implemented a violence reduction initiative (VRI) at all state prisons. This initiative clearly informs inmates of sanctions to be used in response to violence. Sanctions range from in-cell restriction, housing unit lockdown, placement in the restricted housing unit and locking down of an entire prison.
The DOC will continue ongoing efforts to protect our employees and inmates."