FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE:   11/20/2017

Opioid Substance Found at Jail, Officers and Inmates Medically Evaluated for Exposure

Investigation Details:

The Allen County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an incident at the Jail.  Confinement officers responded to D-Block on the suspicion that inmates were smoking.  Upon arrival officers searched a cell and located a piece of paper that appeared to be infused with an unknown substance.  Initial tests on the substance showed positive for Opioids.  All of the officers that entered the cell block reported smelling smoke and feeling strange.  All of the inmates in D-block and B-block (which shares the same air handler) were observed by nurses and emergency medical technicians.  Nine confinement officers and one nurse were transported to local hospitals to be evaluated.  Further testing will be conducted on the substance as the investigation continues.  All of the inmates in D-block were secured in their cells when the incident occurred which prevented them from being exposed.  As an added precaution the inmates and the cell block have been decontaminated.

UPDATE:

Just after 2 P.M. this afternoon the Allen County Sheriff’s Department along with the Fort Wayne Fire Department, TRAA and the Fort Wayne Police Department, responded to the Allen County Jail after additional reports of exposures to staff members. The reports were consistent with the previously explained substance from this morning. Decontamination is ongoing at this time.

Captain Steve Stone
Public Information Officer
Allen County Sheriff’s Department
715 S. Calhoun Street, Room #101
Fort Wayne, IN 46802
Office: (260)449-4954