Sep 3, 2018 3 min read

Allegheny County jail has become the latest correctional facility to be placed in lockdown after corrections officers and medical personnel became ill Sunday night from an unknown odor or substance.

Commissioner Larry Maggi, who is chairman of the Washington County Prison Board, said no issues have been reported yet at the Washington County jail.

“I have talked with the warden, and we care doing everything we possibly can to protect our employees,” Maggi said Monday. “We have been in touch with the state Department of Corrections for guidance.”

“We are trying to stay ahead of it,” he added. “We hope we will stay ahead of it, but you do not know.”

The 11 Allegheny County employees, including nine corrections officers and two medical personnel, became sickened about 10 p.m. Sunday from an unknown odor or substance, according to a release issued Monday morning by Amie M. Downs, director of communications for Allegheny County.

All employees were taken to the hospital for evaluation and have been released, according to Downs. No determination has been made as to what caused it, but the county is treating it similarly to the issue at the state correctional institutions.

All state correctional institutions were placed under lockdown Wednesday after several staff members were sickened by unknown substances over the last few weeks. On Tuesday, an employee of SCI-Greene was taken to the hospital Tuesday night after potential exposure to an unknown substance. That employee, who has not been identified, was released from the hospital, and toxicology tests were negative.

That was the second reported incident at SCI-Greene in August. On Aug. 13, four officers at the facility were sickened while searching an inmate. They were treated at WHS-Greene and able to return to work the following night.

Workers at the state prison in Somerset became ill Thursday. Other incidents were also reported at state prisons in Albion, Benner, Rockview, Camp Hill, Houtzdale, Fayette and Mercer counties as well as the Butler County Prison.

On Thursday, state Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said the liquified drug, also known as K2, may be coming into the facilities soaked into the paper of letters or books. The inmates then eat or smoke it.

The state prison system remains on indefinite lockdown, with inmates confined to their cells. No visitors are permitted, and inmate mail is limited to legal correspondence.

Maggi said there has been a process in place for receiving inmate mail at the jail.

“It has always been in place, but the procedure is being looked at,” Maggi said. “They’ve always made sure that contraband does not come into the jail.”