The Department of Corrections says 20 staff assaults were reported in the first four months of 2026 compared to 14 in the first four months of 2025.<\/p>\n
CAMP HILL, Pa. \u2014 Update, 7 p.m.:\u00a0PSCOA President Michael Ohler said that there was a mistake in the reading of the data gathered from SCI-Camp Hill. In the letter to Superintendent Lindsy Kendall, Ohler said there were 14 staff assaults during all of 2025, when it actually referred to the first four months of 2026.<\/p>\n
Ohler released the following statement clarifying the error:\u00a0<\/p>\n
It has come to our attention that the statistics provided in our release today were read incorrectly. The total number of assaults listed for 2025 was for the same time period — the first four months of the year, not the entire year. PSCOA regrets the error, but the numbers reveal that assaults against Camp Hill officers and fellow inmates are still up considerably from a year ago. We maintain our concern for our members’ safety and believe more must be done to protect them. The department should be more transparent and clear with its numbers so the public fully understands what is taking place inside its prisons.<\/p>\n
The Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association (PSCOA) is calling for increased security measures at SCI-Camp Hill, according to a letter sent to SCI-Camp Hill Superintendent Lindsy Kendall.<\/p>\n
Released on Monday, the letter expresses concern for “the escalating level of violence” at the detention center. PSCOA President Michael Ohler, who wrote the letter, said data from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections shows that things are moving the wrong direction.<\/p>\n
Ohler says that there is a similar trend with the number of violent incidents, with 2026’s first four months matching the total 2025 number of incidents.<\/p>\n
“These are more than numbers,” wrote Ohler. “They represent corrections officers, civilian employees, medical staff and other professionals who report to work each day expecting to return home safely to their families.”<\/p>\n
The PSCOA president cited a recent stabbing of a female corrections officer at SCI-Camp Hill where only a brief lockdown was initiated following the incident. Ohler says a brief lockdown does not give officers time to thoroughly search for prohibited items like weapons.<\/p>\n
“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,” wrote Ohler.<\/p>\n
Currently, the detention center uses the Violence Reduction Initiative. However, Ohler claims that Department of Corrections’ data shows that short-duration lockdowns “do not send a meaningful message to violent inmates,” and “nor do they provide investigators with sufficient time recover weapons, identify those who are responsible and disrupt ongoing criminal activity within the institution.”<\/p>\n
The PSCOA “respectfully urges” SCI-Camp Hill to implement these changes immediately:<\/p>\n
Conduct a minimum 36-hour lockdown of affected housing units to allow for comprehensive searches and investigatorsSuspend visitation and other inmate privileges until comprehensive searches have been completed and officials can account for weapons and other contraband are recovered and those responsible are held accountableEnsure every housing unit involved in a serious assault is thoroughly searches so that homemade weapons and other contraband are recovered and those responsible are held accountableRe-evaluate the implementation of the Violence Reduction Initiative at SCI-Camp Hill and make whatever changes are necessary to prioritize staff safety and institutional security <\/p>\n
“Every serious assault that is met with only a brief lockdown sends the wrong message,” wrote Ohler. “It tells violent inmates that meaningful consequences are unlikely while telling corrections professionals that their safety is secondary.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Department of Corrections says 20 staff assaults were reported in the first four months of 2026 compared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-248262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}