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Inmate charged with smuggling overdose drug into jail
YOUNGSTOWN
Two Mahoning County jail inmates suffered nonfatal overdoses in the jail from a drug believed to be fentanyl, with a third inmate now charged with smuggling the drug into the lockup, said Sheriff Jerry Greene.
The two inmates who overdosed were revived with Narcan by a jail nurse at 5:20 p.m. Monday, said Maj. Jeff Allen of the sheriff’s office.
The two inmates who overdosed are back in the jail after having been taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital for observation, Allen said.
Inmate Victor M. Slocum, 22, of Aberdeen Avenue, Youngstown, now faces new charges of illegal conveyance of drugs of abuse into a detention facility, corrupting another with drugs and drug trafficking, Allen said.
Slocum was in the process of being released, but his release from jail was halted, and the new charges were lodged against him when the overdoses occurred.
He initially had been jailed on charges of possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia lodged against him by Struthers police.
Allen said authorities won’t know for sure if the drug that caused the overdoses was fentanyl until they get test results from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation lab.
“We believe it was in a body cavity. I cannot prove that,” Allen said of the smuggling method.
“That is a huge problem in the jail right now,” he said referring to this drug- smuggling method.
Deputy sheriffs pat down all inmates for weapons, drugs and other contraband when inmates enter, leave, or return to the jail, Allen said.
“If there’s something in the cavity, that’s something we can’t see,” he said.
Deputies can’t legally search body cavities without a search warrant, which requires probable cause for the search and must be issued by a court, he said.
Maj. Alki Santamas, who was jail administrator from 2001-07 and has held that title since 2011, said jail medical staff used Narcan within the past year on two inmates who passed out while being booked into the jail and survived.
He also said he believes a drug-related jail inmate death occurred in the booking area sometime between 1997 and 2001 while he worked at the federal prison in Elkton.
Santamas has worked for the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office for 26 years.