A man incarcerated at the George Bailey Detention Facility administered an over-dose reversing drug to another inmate in medical distress, authorities announced.
An alarm alerted Sheriff’s Deputies on duty that someone had accessed a Naloxone box on Dec. 15 at approximately 2:30 p.m. within the housing unit.
Naloxone nasal spray, commonly known as Narcan is a life-saving medication that can temporarily stop or reverse the effects of an opioid or heroin overdose. According to the Sheriff’s Department, is available in the common housing areas of all county jails in an effort to avert the dangerous and potentially fatal effects of drug abuse and overdose.
Deputies found an incarcerated man who was unresponsive and another person in custody had already given him two doses of Narcan. Deputies and jail medical staff assumed medical aid and gave the victim another eight doses of Naloxone.
The man became responsive and was rushed to the hospital by paramedics for treatment. He has been released from the hospital and is back at the George Bailey Detention Facility.
This is the eighth time a person in San Diego County jail has used the naloxone kits since they were made available in June, according to authorities.
Since 2020 to now, deputies in our jails have used Naloxone more than 500 times in suspected overdose cases. More than 1700 doses of Naloxone were used in these incidents with some individuals needing more than a dozen doses before starting to wake up from an overdose.
In addition to providing naloxone in county jails, the department said it has implemented new medical procedures to screen people booked into facilities in order to determine their substance abuse history.
Sheriff’s officials note that other efforts to keep drugs from entering Jails include: Body scanners, X-Rays, Six Drug Sniffing K-9s, pat downs, surprise Checks of housing units, and a mail processing center.
