LISBON Warden: Inmate likely to recover

The inmate was somehow stockpiling his daily dose of medicine, a jail official said.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- An inmate at the Columbiana County Jail is expected to recover after overdosing on a prescription medication.
Anthony Anderson, 28, of Midland, Pa., was in Salem Community Hospital today after being taken there about 9 a.m. Sunday, jail Warden Hank Escola said.
The hospital refused this morning to release information on Anderson's condition.
Escola said Anderson is in stable condition and is expected to recover.
Anderson, who was to go on trial Monday on an aggravated-robbery charge, was discovered lethargic in his cell early Sunday.
What happened: Escola said it appears Anderson overdosed on an anti-depressant prescribed by a jail doctor. Anderson was supposed to take one pill a day.
Jail procedure calls for inmates to be given their medication by a nurse.
Prisoners are required to take the medication in the nurse's presence and open their mouth afterward to show that they swallowed it.
Apparently, Anderson was somehow hiding the pill in his mouth, or may have been partly swallowing it and regurgitating it later, Escola said.
Either method would have allowed him to stockpile enough of the drug to take it all at once and overdose, Escola added.
It's unclear how much of the drug Anderson took or if the overdose was a suicide attempt, Escola said.
Once Anderson returns to the jail, any further medication he takes will be in liquid form to prevent him from stockpiling it, the warden said.