INDIANAPOLIS -- The Marion County Sheriff’s Office says drug smuggling into the jail has become such a problem that it is considering buying a body scanner to address the issue.
Sheriff John Layton issued a statement Wednesday saying the rate of severely addicted coming into the Marion County Jail is “at the highest levels in the history of the jail.”
Layton said his deputies have administered 27 doses of Narcan since July 1. In August alone, Layton said, at least four inmates had to be hospitalized due to suspected drug overdoses:
- Aug, 10 – 36-year-old George Davis began experiencing an elevated heart rate at the Arrestee Processing Center. He was transported to Eskenazi Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. The sheriff’s office says an autopsy found several ruptured plastic bags believed to contain cocaine inside Davis’ stomach.
- Aug. 14 – During a strip search of a male inmate who was reported to have either heroin or cocaine on his person, the man allegedly removed something from a body cavity and swallowed it. The inmate was taken to Eskenazi Hospital and survived.
- Aug. 18 – APC medical staff refused to admit an arrestee to the jail because he was suffering a suspected OxyContin and alcohol overdose. The inmate was taken instead to Eskenazi Hospital and survived.
- Aug. 21 – An inmate was sent to Eskenazi Hospital for what appeared to be a heart attack. During a sweep of his cell block, a K-9 officer found nine grams of heroin and three Suboxone strips in another inmate’s body cavity.
Just five hours before Layton issued his statement on Wednesday, jail officers found suspected narcotics on a 33-year-old female inmate during a shakedown at the jail.
Layton said inmates are going to “extreme measures to conceal this contraband, like storing drugs in a body cavity, or swallowing drugs prior to an arrest to evade standard search policies.”
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To combat that, he said he is considering buying an expensive body scanner. The sheriff’s office has also recently implemented a detox unit where inmates who are actively withdrawing from opiates, alcohol or both are paired with a mentor inmate who have themselves gone through detox.
Layton said he hopes the detox unit will help cut down on opioid-driven suicide attempts plaguing the jail.
Layton called on state and national leaders to devote greater resources to combating the opioid epidemic outside of the jail, where, he said, the problem starts.
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