PRINTER'S NO. 799
No. 745 Session of 1997
INTRODUCED BY WAGNER, STAPLETON, MELLOW, WOZNIAK, KASUNIC,
BELAN, DELP, BODACK, AFFLERBACH, O'PAKE, COSTA, MUSTO AND
STOUT, MARCH 19, 1997
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, MARCH 19, 1997
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), entitled
2 "An act providing for and reorganizing the conduct of the
3 executive and administrative work of the Commonwealth by the
4 Executive Department thereof and the administrative
5 departments, boards, commissions, and officers thereof,
6 including the boards of trustees of State Normal Schools, or
7 Teachers Colleges; abolishing, creating, reorganizing or
8 authorizing the reorganization of certain administrative
9 departments, boards, and commissions; defining the powers and
10 duties of the Governor and other executive and administrative
11 officers, and of the several administrative departments,
12 boards, commissions, and officers; fixing the salaries of the
13 Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and certain other executive
14 and administrative officers; providing for the appointment of
15 certain administrative officers, and of all deputies and
16 other assistants and employes in certain departments, boards,
17 and commissions; and prescribing the manner in which the
18 number and compensation of the deputies and all other
19 assistants and employes of certain departments, boards and
20 commissions shall be determined," providing for one-dial
21 phone system at State correctional institutions; requiring K-
22 9 dogs to be placed at each maximum security correctional
23 institution; requiring video monitoring of exterior of all
24 State prisons and use of metal detectors in certain areas;
25 prohibiting work facilities outside prison walls and inmates
26 from having any contact with blueprints, drawings or plans
27 regarding any correctional institution.
28 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
29 hereby enacts as follows:
30 Section 1. Section 901-B of the act of April 9, 1929
1 (P.L.177, No.175), known as The Administrative Code of 1929,
2 added December 30, 1984 (P.L.1299, No.245), is amended to read:
3 Section 901-B. General Powers and Duties of the
4 Department.--(a) The Department of Corrections, which is hereby
5 established as an administrative department, shall have the
6 powers and duties granted to and imposed upon it by this article
7 and by any other statutory provisions. In addition, the
8 Department and Secretary of Corrections shall have all the
9 powers and duties granted to and imposed upon the former Bureau
10 and Commissioner of Correction prior to the effective date of
11 this article and shall also have all the powers and duties
12 formerly vested in and exercised by the General Counsel and the
13 Office of General Counsel insofar as such powers and duties
14 related to the administration, management and supervision of
15 penal and correctional facilities, programs and services.
16 (b) The Department of Corrections shall establish at all
17 State correctional institutions a one-dial phone system to alert
18 all law enforcement agencies, churches, schools, day care
19 facilities and news media within the county, and other agencies
20 which the Department of Corrections determines should receive
21 the information, whenever a breach of prison confines occurs
22 within ten minutes of a confirmed escape or breach. The term
23 "one-dial phone system" shall mean a computerized telephone
24 system which, upon the dialing of a single number by a prison
25 official, automatically causes the placing of telephone calls to
26 all agencies predetermined to receive a prison-breach alert.
27 (c) The Department of Corrections shall provide a minimum of
28 two K-9 dogs at each maximum security correctional institution
29 under its jurisdiction.
30 (d) The Department of Corrections shall require all
19970S0745B0799 - 2 -
1 correctional institutions to maintain a video-monitoring system
2 to survey or observe the exterior of the facility on a twenty-
3 four (24) hour per day basis, having a central monitoring
4 station staffed by corrections personnel.
5 (e) The Department of Corrections shall require all
6 correctional institutions to install and use metal detectors,
7 including hand held detectors in critical areas of the
8 institution where inmates have access to tools, machinery and
9 equipment which can be adapted for use as a weapon or for use in
10 an escape attempt.
11 (f) The Department of Corrections shall not permit any work
12 facility or "correctional industry" to be situated outside of
13 any correctional institution walls or secure fencing.
14 (g) The Department of Corrections shall insure that no
15 inmate touches, reads, sees or has any contact whatsoever with
16 any blueprint, diagram or drawing relating to the security or
17 infrastructure of a correctional institution.
18 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
B19L71JLW/19970S0745B0799 - 3 -