Jail Overdoses Investigated in Ross County
It was a wild start to 2023 behind bars at the Ross County, Ohio jail. Just before 9:30 pm on New Year’s Day, corrections officers discovered that multiple inmates had overdosed on suspected fentanyl.
At least five inmates overdosed, causing first responders to deem the incident a mass casualty. Officers deployed Narcan and managed to successfully revive most of the victims.
However, one inmate went into cardiac arrest and was rushed to a local hospital for treatment.
Now it’s up to the Ross County Sheriff’s Office to determine how the drugs got into the facility.
This isn’t the first mass overdose incident behind bars in the county. Back in 2018, almost 30 people were treated for overdose symptoms after an incident at the Ross Correctional Institution.
*Publisher’s Note
We are reminded that this type of incident could occur in our local jail as well as at the prison in Lucasville. A guard’s wife was arrested for allegedly bringing drugs into that facility.
Our corrections officers do a thankless and difficult job. Prisoner safety is their top priority, and they take it very seriously. In the event that someone falls short, we hold them more accountable. There is too much at stake in this job.
