Jails in Southern California are taking steps to protect in opposition to fentanyl-related deaths amongst inmates, however some are nonetheless dying and now deputies and nurses on the establishments are going through the specter of publicity.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco just lately introduced that fentanyl has been confirmed within the deaths of three inmates and suspected in two different deaths up to now in 2022. That complete, matching the deaths attributed to fentanyl in 2021 and 2020, constitutes greater than 38% of the 13 in-custody deaths this yr.
Whereas the variety of inmates dying of fentanyl overdoses is much lower than the variety of these dying on the streets, the fentanyl epidemic has nonetheless compelled Riverside County’s jail system, in addition to different legislation enforcement businesses throughout Southern California, to regulate to the menace by ramping up coaching in using Narcan, an over-the-counter nasal spray used to revive unconscious individuals who have overdosed on medication. Narcan is now available to employees in all of the jails.
Inmate schooling
Inmates, or “correctional sufferers” as Riverside College Well being System calls them, now obtain in depth schooling on the risks of taking medication that aren't ordered by a supplier or delivered by employees, and deputies and correctional well being employees are educated to manage Narcan, based on RUHS.
Final fall, a minimum of three nurses and two deputies had been uncovered to fentanyl whereas treating an inmate on the Robert Presley Detention Middle who consumed the drug however survived. At the very least two of the nurses went to an ER to be handled, however the deputies declined remedy, based on a nurse who was working on the jail on the time of the incident.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Brandi Swan stated in an e mail Friday that “no info is offered on that incident.” And RUHS spokeswoman Sarah Rodriguez additionally declined to supply any info on it.
Courtroom buses an issue
The nurse, who requested to not be recognized, stated the incident occurred within the basement space of Robert Presely’s transportation wing, the place inmates are bused to and from courtroom. It's the place many of the overdoses within the jail happen and the place medication, together with fentanyl, are most incessantly smuggled into the jail, she stated.
“I personally noticed just one potential overdose outdoors the basement space. That's the motion space of the jail. Somebody goes off to courtroom, they handle to get fentanyl and so they come again,” she stated.
In a single incident, she stated, she handled an inmate who overdosed on fentanyl on a bus that returned to the jail from courtroom. She resuscitated him with Narcan, he was taken to the hospital and he returned to the jail a pair hours later.
Whereas elevated coaching and Narcan has helped employees in adressing the fentanyl downside within the jails, a continued staffing scarcity stays an issue, the previous worker stated.
San Bernardino County jails
In San Bernardino County jails in 2022, there have been 39 nonfatal fentanyl overdoses as of July, however the Sheriff’s Division didn't on the time present the variety of deadly fentanyl overdoses at its jails.
The division started monitoring fentanyl deaths in its jails this yr because of the rising epidemic, division spokeswoman Mara Rodriguez stated.
“With the fentanyl situation persevering with to develop throughout the U.S., in our county, and within the jail system, we put collectively a system to trace the overdose numbers that can permit us to simply entry this info for our personal functions,” Rodriguez stated in a July e mail.
However as of Friday, the division nonetheless had not produced its information on the variety of inmates who died or had been suspected to have died of fentanyl overdoses this yr, nor did it present any info on fentanyl coaching protocols at its jails.
Theo Lacy
At Orange County’s Theo Lacy jail, fentanyl has been blamed within the dying of just one inmate up to now this yr. Two inmates died of fentanyl overdoses on the jail in 2021, however no inmates died of fentanyl overdoses in 2020, Sgt. Todd Hylton stated.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Division makes use of drug-sniffing canines every time medication are suspected of being smuggled into its 5 jails, together with Theo Lacy, and physique scanners are used for inmate searches, Hylton stated.
All jails are equipped with Narcan, and inmate welfare checks are performed each 45 minutes as an alternative of the trade customary of each hour, he stated.
Any medication confiscated on the jails suspected of being fentanyl are packaged and examined at an outdoor crime lab as a security precaution.
“That’s one of many largest issues with our employees — contact with fentanyl,” Hylton stated. “It may be inhaled within the air or absorbed into the pores and skin in the event that they contact somebody or one thing with fentanyl on it. They will turn into contaminated and might have required medical help.”
LA County jails
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division didn't reply to a request for info on fentanyl-related deaths at its jails previously three years or its fentanyl coaching protocols.
Search and seizure
Christian Contreras, an lawyer representing the household of Richard Matus Jr., 29, who died of a suspected fentanyl overdose on Aug. 11 on the Cois M. Byrd Detention Middle in French Valley, stated it's clear that there are “critical systemic points” with Riverside County jails. He filed a authorized declare, a precursor to a lawsuit, on Sept. 16 in opposition to the county.
“Riverside jails are outfitted with scanners and different instruments which permit deputies to scan for contraband,” Contreras stated. “How is it attainable that even with this superior know-how that fentanyl is within the jails?”
Bianco stated the county has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on know-how designed to detect any prohibited objects that an inmate is attempting to sneak into the jails. However whereas X-ray machines detect most contraband inmates attempt to smuggle in, typically one thing is missed, he stated.
“An X-ray machine doesn’t at all times discover a damaged bone regardless that it’s damaged. So there are situations the place individuals are in a position to smuggle (medication) in,” Bianco stated throughout a current interview. “This yr we now have had a file variety of seizures of medication being smuggled into the jail.”
He harassed that smuggling medication into the jails is a enterprise for some inmates.
“There are inmates that purposely get arrested simply to smuggle medication into jail. It's both for cash, cash on the skin, cash or favor on the within,” Bianco stated. “It’s a part of that tradition of energy contained in the jails, and medicines are part of it.”
Employees Author Brian Rokos contributed to this report.