Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
Nearly 24 people, including officers, nurses and inmates at the Ross Correctional Institution, are currently being treated for possible overdoses after exposure to an "unknown substance," according to Ohio State Highway Patrol.
The state troopers arrived on the scene around 9:10 a.m. Wednesday morning after the impacted parties fell ill. Lt. Robert Sellers told the Associated Press that naloxone was administered to an inmate and staff members and the Adena Regional Medical Center officials reported “numerous unresponsive” patients from the facility at about 9:30 a.m.
Adena Hospital president and CEO Jeff Graham, reported 19 people were being treated at the facility with the main symptom being nausea. Investigators are still working to determine what substance caused the illnesses, and state troopers believe the substance was possibly fentanyl.
According to a State Highway Patrol release, all of the affected parties are responsive. One cell block of the prison has been evacuated, and a high school adjacent to the prison has also been put on lockdown out of caution, according to the Chillicothe Gazette.
Ross Correctional Institution is a medium-security prison that houses about 2,000 male inmates and employs about 500 people. Officials with the state's prisons agency and the State Highway Patrol didn't immediately return requests for comment Wednesday morning.
