Over the last two months, at least seven incarcerated people have overdosed at the women’s jail in Lynwood, according to county authorities, raising questions about how illicit drugs made it into the facility and into the hands of the people held there.
None of the overdoses were fatal, according to law enforcement.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said fentanyl is suspected as the key substance that caused the overdoses at the Century Regional Detention Facility.
A spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Department said no one had been arrested in connection with the overdoses. The spokesperson declined to comment as to whether any jail staff at the Lynwood facility were disciplined.
It’s unclear whether overdoses are common at the jail, which has an average daily population of around 1,300 people. Citing federal privacy law related to medical information, the Sheriff’s Department said in an email to LAist that it does not track total overdose incidents in its facilities.
Criminal justice reform advocates say that’s a problem.
Michelle Parris, program director with the Vera Institute of Justice — a group that wants to end mass incarceration — said seven overdoses at the women’s jail seemed like a very high number in a short period of time.
“But I think it’s also pretty hard for us to contextualize because there isn’t actually a lot of information put out there about how often overdoses — particularly non-fatal overdoses — are happening in the jails,” Parris said.
In a statement released after the original publication of this story, the Sheriff’s Department said it: “continually strives to prevent illicit substances from…
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