Hundreds of people bused into Harrisburg from across the state Tuesday in hopes of seeing the beginning of the end for life without parole in Pennsylvania.

But by the end of the day, they were marching around the Capitol in defiance, chanting, “Let our people go, or next election you will go.”

The advocates, many from Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, had gathered to watch a scheduled Senate Judiciary Committee vote on SB 942 from Sen. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia), which makes life sentence recipients eligible for parole after 15 years.

After 12 days the state prison system is no longer on lockdown.

Since August 29, Pennsylvania’s 24 prisons limited mail and visitors while revoking inmate privileges to deal with an outbreak of unknown illnesses to inmates and staffers.

From May 31 to September 1, more than 50 staff members and 33 inmates were taken to outside hospitals for treatment for exposure to illicit drugs. Subsequent tests showed synthetic drugs, including cannabinoids, as the cause in some of the situations.

Last Wednesday all correctional facilities in Pennsylvania were placed on an indefinite lock down after multiple staff fell sick due to an unknown substance.

Check out this week's three events in under three minutes.

From President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson) releasing a statement on Wednesday regarding statue of limitations reform for child sexual abuse victims, to Auditor General Eugene DePasquale discussing the recommendations in the Pennsylvania School Safety Task force report all the way to the state prisons lock down. 

All state correctional institutions are on indefinite lockdown Wednesday as the administration deals with more reports of unknown substances sickening state corrections officers.

During August, 29 staff members have fallen ill in ten of Pennsylvania's prisons after coming into contact with the substances. State Police testing since has only revealed that one case involved synthetic cannabinoids.

“The safety and security of our employees is my number one concern,” Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said in a statement. “Our state prisons, especially those in the western part of the state, have experienced recent incidents in which employees have been sickened and we need to get to the bottom of this issue now.”