Inmates high on K2, a synthetic form of marijuana, are causing an uptick in assaults and extra safety precautions at some Pennsylvania prisons, Gov. Tom Wolf's administration announced Wednesday.

The protocols come as state police investigate how 18 staffers were sickened by exposure to unknown substances this month at Fayette, Greene and Mercer State Correctional Institutions. Prison officials believe the toxins are linked to smuggled K2, the administration says also is contributing to a 4 percent increase in inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-staff assaults in the first half of 2018.

“The safety and security of staff and inmates is paramount to the Department of Corrections,” Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said in a statement. “Whether the threat is drugs or staff assaults, the agency is working vigorously to combat these threats on many fronts.”

Safety gear, training, scanners and drug-sniffing dogs are being added to facilities to help corrections officers, mail clerks, food workers and anyone else who may come in contact with the smuggled drugs.

The outbreak of the K2 is in Western Pennsylvania and also being seen at a county facility, said Tabb Bickell, the state Correction Department’s executive deputy secretary for Institutional Operations.

A liquid form of K2, no bigger than a dime, can be dropped onto a piece of paper and ingested, leading to inmates getting violent and having no memory of the incidents they caused, Mr. Bickell said. Staff who have come in contact with the drug reported being light-headed, dizzy and having shortness of breath, he said. Tests also showed some employees experienced elevated blood pressure, he said.

Synthetic pot seen as a public health danger

“It’s like every other week a new ingredient is added to this K2,” said Mr. Bickell, a former corrections officer who worked his way up the ranks. “I can honestly say in my over 30 years of service, just like in communities, I’ve never seen it as bad as now as it with K2 and synthetics.”

It’s not just in Pennsylvania.

Synthetic drugs are causing overdose deaths, violence outbreaks and “Walking Dead” zombies in Florida prisons, the Miami Herald newspaper has reported.

Last week, more than 100 people overdosed on a synthetic cannabinoid and painkiller fubinaca in New Haven, Conn.

The Illinois Department of Public Health has issued a public health warning after getting multiple cases, including some deaths, of severe bleeding among people who used contaminated synthetic cannabinoids, such as K2, also known as “spice” or “fake weed,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Other states also have reported similar cases,” CDC’s website warns. “If you have purchased any of this product … since March 1, 2018, do not use it.”

Prisons, like the rest of the nation, have been fighting the opioid epidemic, said Jason Bloom, president of the Pennsylvania corrections officers union. Adding synthetic drugs to the mix makes working in a prison harder, he said.

Like any medication, synthetic drugs are causing different reactions in different inmates, but the main reaction has been increased aggression, he said.

“They cause inmates to be even more aggressive and that’s something we don’t really need by any stretch,” Mr. Bloom said.

The Corrections Department’s plan to combat the drug trade and violence:

• New training for how to use protective equipment when conducting searches and processing inmate mail or other items. The training, along with extra equipment, is for corrections officers, maintenance, and food service staff who handle inmate clothing or property.

• New hazardous material handling training for in-house firefighters.

• Purchasing safety disposal equipment for unknown substances in mailrooms and elsewhere.

• Add more body scanners at state prisons and community corrections centers. Body scanners are at SCI Coal. Township and soon SCI Huntingdon on a pilot basis.

• Add three more teams of drug-sniffing dogs and buy more anti-overdosing drugs for animals.

• Instructing inmates on the dangers of using synthetic drugs.

Body scanners have reduced drug use and overdoses at Wernersville Community Corrections Center, a halfway house, in Berks County. The scanner, which cost about $100,000, are tall enough for a man to walk through. A screen displays organs with such clarity prison guards can see hidden weapons, drugs and undigested food.

Wernersville installed the scanner in January and through June there were no overdoses, compared to 32 overdoses there over the last two years, including one death.

Eventually, Mr. Bickell said, every state prison will be outfitted with a body scanner, and the department will keep doing surprise drug sweeps.

“We just did a targeted search with K-9s in the northwest, and as sad as it is, we had great success in finding drugs,” Mr. Bickell said.

Pennsylvania had 46,768 inmates in two dozen state prisons and one boot camp as of July 31, corrections records show. Of that total, 51 percent were serving time for major crimes: murder, manslaughter, homicide by vehicle, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft/larceny, and arson.

Steve Esack: steve.esack@mcall.com

First Published: August 22, 2018, 10:05 p.m.