Nine staff members at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater in Bayport were hospitalized on Thursday after being exposed to unknown synthetic drugs.
Initially, one staff member fell ill, experiencing symptoms of lightheadedness, nausea, and an increased heart rate, according to a news release by the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC).
This came after the staff member encountered a male inmate smoking an unknown substance in his cell around 7:44 a.m.
The staff member was taken to Lakeview Hospital.
Shortly after, six other employees who were exposed to the smoking inmate or in the same housing unit reported experiencing similar reactions. Five of them were also sent to hospital.
In a separate incident, an inmate in the same housing unit “threw a container with an unknown substance from his cell that landed near staff,” the DOC said, resulting in an additional three workers experiencing illness and being hospitalized.
“These synthetic substances are particularly dangerous because the chemical properties that comprise them are unknown and uncontrolled,” Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said.
Following these two incidents, a total of nine prison workers were hospitalized, with one being given Narcan, an opioid overdose reversal nasal spray, or a Naloxone injection.
The prison staff members were treated and released on Thursday afternoon, the DOC said.
‘Stronger Than Expected’
The male inmate who was caught smoking told investigators he had smoked a “stronger than expected dose of synthetic K-2,” a synthetic form of marijuana.
The DOC says investigators have not completed testing for the specific substance from the incident, but recent findings have found the synthetic cannabinoid “soaked into paper and dried.”
The substance can be bought online and brought into the prison through the mail, the DOC states.
The agency said Minnestoa DOC and prisons across the country use various strategies to stop these substances from being smuggled in through the mail, such as scanning mail through machine detection processes and a trial program that photocopies most of the mail.
Prison Put Under Lockdown
The Minnesota prison was locked down as the DOC’s Office of Special Investigations evaluated the substance. The news release said officials are investigating certain inmates who are working with outside individuals or groups to determine how the substances were brought into the prison.
“We are prioritizing our investigative efforts to identify and prosecute those responsible for conspiring to introduce these substances into the secure correctional environment,” Schnell said.