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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 26, 2024 09:56 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Alec J. Ryncavage and Rep. Aaron D. Kaufer |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | PA Corrections Officer Safety Equipment Act |
| As diversionary programs work to positively move low-level, non-violent offenders back into the community, our prison populations have become more dangerous. With fewer staff and more dangerous inmates, there is a need for advancing technology within our highly stressful State Correctional Institutions (SCI) to increase safety, morale, and retention. The most significant technological advancement in our prison system to date occurred in 2016 with the introduction of OC spray. Despite its commercialization in 1981, OC spray remains the only advanced tool on our corrections officers' toolbelt. However, in some of the most critical and high-intensity situations, such as Restrictive Housing settings, high-profile escorts, and incidents involving noncompliance, on occasion, OC spray can be ineffective and if exposure occurs, it can have a negative effect on responding staff performance. Advances in de-escalation technologies has created “Conductive Distraction and Escalation Devices” or CD3s, which are a new type of product that could be worn by correctional officers to quickly, safely, and humanely subdue an individual who poses a threat to officers or inmates. Unlike the typical police taser, which releases approximately 50,000 volts of electricity, this technology can discharge a few hundred volts – enough to subdue an unruly inmate and promote compliance without causing ventricular arrhythmias, sudden cardiac arrest, or other health problems. Delivered in the form of a glove, a correctional officer is much more difficult to disarm than an officer equipped with a handheld taser or stun baton. The PA State Corrections Officers Association, which proudly represents the men and women of the H-1 Bargaining Unit, has called on the Department of Corrections to introduce this technology and they have failed to act. This proven technology is already being used within 23 county correctional facilities across 29 counties. Accordingly, my legislation will require the Department of Corrections to issue these gloves to properly trained corrections officers who have completed a course approved by the Department. Correctional officers who are issued this product will be required to comply with existing use of force guidelines in statute. I believe that the use of this safe and effective tool in conjunction with defensive tactics training will help ensure the safety of all inmates and SCI employees. Please join me in cosponsoring this important piece of legislation to protect our correctional officers and ensure the safety of our prisons. |
Introduced as HB2512