Auburn Correctional Facility has been the scene of a series of chemical exposure incidents this month that left numerous staff members ill and in need of hospital treatment.
According to a news release from the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, the first incident happened on August 3, when two officers conducting a cell frisk came into contact with damp inmate mail. Both developed headaches, chills, and lightheadedness. They were initially treated by medical staff at the facility, then transported by ambulance to the hospital, where they were treated and released. The substance has not yet been identified.
Two days later, on August 5, an officer on rounds detected a chemical burning smell inside a cell block. Another staff member noticed the same odor, and a third officer conducting inmate count had smoke with a burnt chemical smell blown into his face by an inmate. That officer later became dizzy, nauseous, and lightheaded, and was found to have elevated blood pressure. He was taken by ambulance to Auburn Hospital.
A sergeant, three other officers, and a civilian staff member on the cell block also developed symptoms and were transported to Auburn Hospital. Surveillance video later showed inmates exchanging unknown substances between cells prior to staff becoming ill. Several inmates were removed and frisked for contraband, but chemical tests conducted by the Auburn Fire Department were inconclusive.
The next day, August 6, staff found two inmates vomiting in their cells. A sergeant and an officer escorted them to the infirmary, but both staff members became ill afterward and were hospitalized. A search of the inmates’ cells turned up three sheets of paper saturated with an unknown liquid and two pills later identified as anti-anxiety medication. A K9 had also alerted to one of the cells.
A third officer who entered one of the cells also became sick and was taken to the hospital.
All affected staff were treated and released. The incidents remain under investigation.
“It is extremely frustrating and concerning that the exposures continue statewide at a high level and continue to send staff to hospitals because of the symptoms they develop. What is equally upsetting is the fact that although assaults and contraband can be tracked, there is nothing currently showing how many members are taken from prisons by ambulances daily. While we have been screaming since the HALT act was signed into law that the assaults on staff would sky rocket, which they did, and that when the state suspended the HALT act the assaults declined just as we said they would, we cannot accurately show the public the frequency of ambulances arriving at our facilities to take members to the hospital. More needs to be done to stop this influx of drugs getting in. No person should wake up to go to work wondering if they will be subjected to an unknown substance and what their body will be ingesting. Do the legislators who enact laws with little to no penalties for bad behavior know what the smell of synthetic marijuana, or of a lithium battery being smoked, smells like or does to an officer’s body? Adding to that frustration, when HAZMAT teams are called in after an exposure, most cannot determine the type of chemical, making it more concerning that we can’t pinpoint what the actual chemicals are. These exposures continue to happen, and there will be a time when someone develops permanent disabilities or even dies as a result of being exposed!” – stated Kenny Gold, Western Region Vice President of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, Inc.
