CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — Pennsylvania corrections officers are calling for action after staff assaults have nearly doubled through the first four months of 2026 vs. all of 2025, according to a news release.
In a letter to SCI-Camp Hill Superintendent Lindsy Kendall, the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association (PSCOA) President Michael Ohler cited data showing that there have been 20 assaults against staff members vs. 14 in 2025 as a whole.
Ohler continued to point out how violence at SCI-Camp Hill is surging despite strategies already in place.
“The Department’s own figures also show that SCI-Camp Hill recorded 61 total violent incidents during all of 2025. Through April 2026, the institution had already matched that total. Those are not the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association’s numbers. They are the Department of Corrections’ own statistics, and they demonstrate that violence at SCI-Camp Hill is accelerating despite existing intervention strategies,” Ohler wrote, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
The letter cited a female officer who was reportedly stabbed in the face, and he laments that only a brief lockdown was implemented.
He argued in the letter that a brief lockdown does not allow enough time to do comprehensive searches for homemade weapons, collect other contraband, or complete thorough investigations.
“Every serious assault should trigger a thorough search to locate homemade weapons, remove contraband, identify those responsible and restore the security of the institution before normal operations resume,” Ohler claimed.
PSCOA urged SCI-Camp Hill to adopt stronger security protocols after serious assaults, including a minimum 36-hour lockdown of affected housing areas.
Additionally, PSCOA encouraged the facility to suspend visitation and other inmate privileges until searches can be completed.
Ohler said the department’s current response is not protecting corrections staff.
“Correctional institutions are inherently dangerous environments, and our members understand that reality,” he wrote. “They should never be expected to work in an institution where known security threats are allowed to persist because facilities return to normal operations before comprehensive searches and investigations have been completed.”
Ohler claimed staff members “deserve nothing less than a workplace where every reasonable measure is taken to protect their safety,” and urged Kendall to consider immediately implementing stronger measures to protect prison staff.