Pennsylvania prison industries converted to produce personal protective equipment

Add Pennsylvania’s sprawling state prison system to the list of manufacturers now producing personal protective equipment to ward off infection during the coronavirus pandemic.

Inmates working 12-hour shifts at garment factories within the prison system made more than 185,000 masks since March 17, Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said. All Department of Corrections employees have been supplied with three masks each and every inmate has been supplied with two masks, he said.

Inmates in 13 of the state’s 25 prisons, including facilities in Somerset and Greene counties, are working on the effort.

“As part of the Department of Corrections preparedness planning, in mid-March I directed all of our employees and inmates to wear masks,” Wetzel said. “We didn’t want to take from the community supply, so we began making the masks in-house at several of our state prisons.”

Last week, Gov. Tom Wolf recommended that all Pennsylvanians wear masks when they leave home to try to reduce the transmission of the virus that causes covid-19.

“Over the weekend, at the request of the governor’s office, we manufactured and shipped cloth masks for essential commonwealth employees,” Wetzel added.

To date, only SCI Phoenix outside Philadelphia has reported inmates as positive for covid-19. As of Tuesday, the Department of Corrections reported four inmates at the facility were positive for the virus.

Another 11 employees at prisons across the state also tested positive for covid-19.

In addition to face masks, Wetzel said other covid-19-related items now being produced at the state prisons include:

• 36,000 bars of antibacterial soap

• 255 gowns

• 1,620 packs/27 cases of PDF-45 disinfectant.