By C1 Staff
NEW YORK — Food that inmates complained back in March had made them sick has tested positive for rat poison.
The Huffington Post reports that the meatloaf served to 22 Rikers Island jail inmates was found to contain Brodifacoum, a compound commonly used as rat poison.
The meatloaf was served during a three-day lock down in the wake of an alleged sexual assault on one of the correctional officers.
Inmates prevented Raleek Young’s attack on a female officer, but it’s unclear if those who prevented the attack were among those who became sick after eating the meatloaf.
No inmates were involved in the preparation and distribution of the meatloaf, according to a suit filed on behalf of the inmates.
A Department of Corrections assistant commissioner for environmental health admitted to seeing “visible green and blue specks of an unknown substance” in what she called a “purported sample of the meatloaf.”
She did not find any similar substance in the facility’s pantry or kitchen. The rodenticides found in the jail’s exterminator shop also did not match the specks in the loaf.