SCI Phoenix.
Two corrections officers at State Correctional Institute Phoenix in Skippack Township were assaulted by inmates in a six-day span, with one officer who is recovering at home after suffering 11 stab wounds to the head, back and neck.
“It’s a miracle that he’s still alive and is expected to recover,” said Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association President John Eckenrode.
The union is at the end of its rope – it demands the Department of Corrections lockdown the entire facility and conduct a response team search for weapons and contraband to protect the safety of its officers.
“This should have never have happened because the warning signs were there,” Eckenrode said.
According to Pennsylvania Department of Corrections records, SCI Phoenix has the most violent incidents of any state prison thus far in 2024, as well as the second highest number of assaults committed against prison staff across the board. Data includes inmate on staff assaults, inmate on inmate assaults, and fights.
SCI Phoenix Violence Report, as of June 2024, showed an increase in the number of violent incidents from 77 for Year-to-Date 2019 to 84 for Year-To-Date 2023, for a total of 141 violent incidents. According to data, there were 31 violent incidents in May and 27 in June 2024.
Of those 77 incidents, 15 were staff assaults listed as “guilty incidents”; of the 84 violent incidents in 2023, 14 of them were staff assaults, per the violence report.
Inmate assaults were 18 for 2019 and 21 for 2023, per state correctional records.
Thus far in 2024, according to state Department-wide Violence Report for June, there were four assaults on corrections officers between January and June 2024 at SCI Phoenix, among other SCIs.
According to the report, on March 12 at 7:26 a.m., an inmate threatened and then punched an officer in the face, knocking them to the ground. The officer stood up and radioed for assistance, as the inmate ran and secured himself in his cell. The officer was taken to an area hospital for treatment, per the report.
On May 28, at 9:38 a.m., a corrections sergeant was attempting to secure the door on a cell, housing an inmate. The inmate had the door locked open, and when the officer approached the door, the inmate hit the sergeant in the throat, per the report. The officer secured the cell door without further incident and was referred to an outside hospital, per the report.
According to the report, on June 10, at 8:16 p.m., a staff member was escorting an inmate back to his cell, following an out-of-cell activity. When the escort arrived at the cell, the inmate pulled the restraints, along with the officer, into the cell, per the report. The staff member placed the inmate on the floor of the cell to regain control, but was bitten in the left arm by the inmate, per authorities.
A second assisting officer suffered an injured right arm and hand, per the report. Both officers were taken to an outside hospital.
Three days later, at 6:27 p.m., per the report, West Control was notified of a medical emergency in the prison dayroom. One officer reported an inmate was unresponsive and appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance, per the report.
After the officer order the inmate to exit his cell, he became assaultive and struck the officer with closed fists, according to authorities. The officer placed the inmate against the wall to gain compliance, but the inmate refused to comply. He was placed on the floor in an attempt to gain control, and the inmate remained non-compliant and continued to fight the officer, according to the report.
Additional staff arrived on the unit and placed the inmate in hand restraints, and the officer was referred to an outside hospital, according to the report.
Ryan Tarkowski, communications director for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, confirmed late Friday the July 29 assault on an officers by an inmates. The officer assaulted on July 29 continues to recover, he said.
“The Department tracks all monthly assault data and compares the data to previous year-to-date totals. COVID years are excluded from these data sets,” Tarkowski said. “SCI Phoenix … has the largest inmate population of any facility in our system.”
Tarkowski said the number of guilty incidents for staff assaults through May 2024 – 15 – were consistent with those reported in 2019 – 14 – and 13 in 2023.
“It decreased compared to the 27 guilty incidents observed through May 2022,” Tarkowski said.
He said the total guilty incidents for inmate-on-inmate assaults through May 2024 – 36 – rose from the rates observed at this time last year, which was 18. Meanwhile, the number of guilty incidents for inmate fights has remained consistent with last year’s data – 37 in 2024 versus 36 in 2023, he said.
“The Department continually refines its violence reduction strategies, has zero-tolerance for violence, including inmate-on-inmate, inmate-on-staff, and staff-on-staff workplace violence, and works with local district attorneys to prosecute, where possible, those who perpetrate violence,” Tarkowski said.
Eckenrode agreed that areas of the prison have been searched, and weapons have been found, but those events should have triggered an automatic lockdown of the entire facility.
PSCOA made a request to the Department of Corrections and SCI Phoenix for a Corrections Emergency Response Team, or CERT, could search for weapons and other contraband.
“No facility-wide lockdown and search has been done. One can only conclude staff safety isn’t a priority for this department,” Eckenrode said. “The Department of Corrections must take all necessary steps to protect the public servants who bravely serve at SCI-Phoenix. Lock down this entire jail now and allow CERT to do its job.”
When asked why the PSCOA request was not honored, and whether or not a CERT was conducted at SCI Phoenix due to the recent assaults, Tarkowski confirmed that SCI Phoenix has its own CERT team, which is made up of corrections officers with additional specialized training to respond to emergency events inside a facility.
“CERT members serve as corrections officers when the team is not activated,” he said.
Tarkowski said any CERT activation, mass search, or anything regarding future CERT activation at SCI Phoenix is private “to preserve operational security.”
Eckenrode responded that it was sad that the DOC wasted two days looking up statistics, instead of heeding the PSCOA call for a full lockdown and CERT team search.
“Now another officer has been assaulted,” Eckenrode said. “On Saturday, they finally locked down the prison after questions from the media, but still won't conduct a search.”
Eckenrode said, given two recent assaults and the number of violent incidents, it simply doesn't make sense.
“Inmates believe nothing will be done when assaults happen, and that puts our officers in danger,” he said.
