Seven inmates from the Fresno County Jail were rushed to the hospital overnight after being exposed to an opioid that was likely fentanyl, authorities said.
One of the inmates was having difficulty breathing and staff members administered Narcan before calling an ambulance to the jail around 10.30 p.m., said Fresno County Assistant Sheriff Steve McComas.
Sometime later, six other inmates began showing similar symptoms and after receiving Narcan were transported to two hospitals.
Six of the men have been released from the hospital and returned to the jail. One inmate remains hospitalized under observation, he said.
The inmate who remains hospitalized had been booked into the jail within the last day and is suspected of smuggling the narcotics, McComas said.
He had been booked within the last day and “had found a way to smuggle the narcotics into the jail,” he said.
“(The) jail has a robust system in place to try to keep all contraband, narcotics — any kind of contraband out, but obviously no system is going to be one-hundred percent effective so we do know that sometimes contraband does get into our jails,” he added.
McComas said lab tests of the substance have proven inconclusive but that the symptoms were similar to exposure to fentanyl.