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Commissioner Douglas said that the inmates were taken to the hospital after overdosing on "benzos" when asked to address rumors during the workshop meeting recorded live and streamed on Facebook, which you can watch in full in the player below.
Harrisburg resident Pamela Parson stated the conversations:
"Let me say that I am a member of this prison's citizen advisory board. One of the things that we heard in the last day is that there have been 10 fentanyl overdoses in the prison and that there's currently one person who, depending on where you hear it from, is either dead or in very critical condition [...] Now, I learned this from other members of the citizen advisory board because people in the community talk to us."
Douglas began his response by apologizing for the county's lack of communication, and acknowledging that they have to do better with engaging the community advisory team.
One of the inmates was in critical condition but had improved over this past weekend, Douglas explained, noting that officials are still working to find out how the drugs got into the prison.
The Dauphin County Prison released the following statement about this situation on Thursday, Oct. 10:
"On September 28th, several inmates ingested an unknown substance, necessitating hospitalization. In the following days, additional inmates began displaying similar symptoms, resulting in a total of ten individuals from various blocks requiring medical attention. Investigations revealed that all affected inmates had consumed the same unidentified substance. A joint investigation involving DCP Internal Affairs and the Dauphin County Criminal Investigative Division (CID) was promptly launched and is currently ongoing."
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