By C1 Staff
LANCASTER, Pa. — The union president for corrections officers inside the Lancaster County Correctional Facility says the officers followed proper procedures after recent inmate suicides, but that mental health providers didn’t.
Lancaster Online reports that the union is filing grievances seeking to reinstate the officers.
Brian Secor, president of the local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said that the union learned the officers had been fired “for not relaying relevant information to supervisors and [mental health] personnel.”
But Secor says the officers relayed warning signs to at least three different mental health counselors, and places the blame at their feet.
The prison board unanimously decided to fire the officers following the suicide of Zachary Keifer, who used bed sheets to hang himself in his cell on Dec. 27 and was removed from life support Jan. 10. Michael Lausell also committed suicide at the prison, and two other suicide attempts were also factored into the firings.
Secor says the two fired officers had stopped the suicide attempt of another inmate who attempted to jump from the top tier of the housing area around the time of Keifer’s hanging.
Prison board chairman Scott Martin accused the union of cherry picking what information it was releasing, as no one else had been fired in four other incidents investigated.
A request for comment for the prison’s healthcare provider, PrimeCare Medical Inc., wasn’t immediately returned.