The Citizen
AUBURN, N.Y. — The union representing New York state correction officers said that 11 staff members at Auburn Correctional Facility were recently taken to the hospital after being exposed to unknown substances.
In a news release Tuesday, the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association said the incidents occurred over a three-day period this month.
Two officers were transported by ambulance on Aug. 3, NYSCOPBA said, after becoming lightheaded with headaches and chills while searching a cell and handling an inmate’s mail that was damp from being soaked in an unknown substance.
On Aug. 5, the union continued, an officer conducting rounds in a cell block and a staff member noticed a chemical burning smell, and an officer conducting an inmate count had smoke that smelled like a burnt chemical blown into his face by an inmate. The latter officer began feeling dizzy, lightheaded and nauseous, and was taken by ambulance to Auburn Community Hospital for evaluation.
A sergeant, three officers and a civilian staff member who were on the cell block also began feeling ill and were transported to the hospital for evaluation, and were later released.
During the investigation into the exposure, NYSCOPBA said, it was determined that inmates had been exchanging unknown substances between cells just prior to staff becoming ill. Several inmates who were involved were removed from their cells and frisks were conducted for contraband. Members of the Auburn Fire Department then conducted tests for chemicals, but the tests were inconclusive.
The last exposure occurred on Aug. 6, when two inmates were found vomiting in their cells, NYSCOPBA said. They were escorted to the infirmary by a sergeant and officer, who then became ill and were transported to the hospital for treatment. During a search of the inmate’s cells, a K9 indicated that one of them contained drugs. Staff recovered three sheets of paper saturated with an unknown liquid and two white pills that were later determined to be anti-anxiety medication.
A third officer who was involved in the incident also began feeling ill after entering the cell, and was transported to the hospital as well.
NYSCOPBA said in its news release that chemical exposures in state prisons are on the rise even as contraband seizures have decreased since mail scanning began in April.
“More needs to be done to stop this influx of drugs getting in,” NYSCOPBA Western Region Vice President Kenny Gold said in a statement. “These exposures continue to happen and there will be a time when someone develops permanent disabilities or even dies as a result of being exposed!”
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