Fentanyl smuggled into Sacramento jail led to inmate overdoses, Sheriff’s Office says
Sheriff’s narcotics detectives believe an inmate who was admitted to the Sacramento County Main Jail Thursday smuggled in fentanyl and shared it with four other inmates who apparently overdosed on the synthetic opioid.
The four inmates who were found unresponsive at the jail Thursday evening were rushed to a hospital as a precautionary measure, examined and medically cleared within hours, said Sgt. Rodney Grassmann, a Sacramento County sheriff’s spokesman. The inmates were back in custody at the jail by early Friday, he said.
About 5 p.m. on Thursday, deputies notified medical staff that a male inmate on the sixth floor was suffering from “an unknown medical emergency,” sheriff’s officials have said. Moments later, deputies became aware of three other inmates also housed on the sixth floor and displaying similar symptoms.
Grassmann said the deputies quickly recognized that the four inmates were exhibiting symptoms of an opioid overdose. The inmates were given the nasal spray Narcan, which is used to reverse possible opioid overdoses, then taken by ambulance to the hospital.
“This stuff will kill you in a heartbeat,” Grassmann said about fentanyl. “I think it’s fair to say those deputies saved their lives.”
Narcotics detectives were called into the jail to investigate the incident. Grassmann said the investigators questioned one inmate who admitted to them that he is a heroin addict and smuggled in the fentanyl Thursday, when he was admitted to the jail facility on I Street in downtown Sacramento.
“It’s extremely rare that something like that gets inside the jail,” Grassmann said.
The inmate also told the detectives that he shared the fentanyl with the four other inmates, the sheriff’s spokesman said. The inmate who spoke to detectives did not exhibit any adverse symptoms Thursday, Grassmann said.
The inmate, who was wanted on an arrest warrant, had surrendered himself at the jail Thursday. Grassmann declined to release the inmate’s name because the inmate is part of an ongoing investigation.
Sheriff’s investigators will gather information for the investigation and submit it to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office to review and determine what criminal charges to file.
