Phoenix – An inmate has died after 12 overdose reported at the Maricopa County Jail over the past week.

What we know:

Maricopa County The Sheriff’s Office says 12 overdose has occurred. Estrella Prison. Sheriff Jerry Sheridan detailed one of the incidents.

“The first incident we had was on February 6th, where we called the state prison. Eight inmates had medical conditions that they perceived as potential overdose.” said Sheriff Sheridan.

The latest incident occurred just before 1am on February 14th. During the incident, four inmates received medical care and one inmate died.

In both cases, detainees reportedly found fentanyl.

“It was about 7-8 grams in a plastic bag,” Sheridan said. “They were removed from her body cavity by the prisoner and given to the detention officer.”

Detention officer Barbara Herrera also found fentanyl in the inmate’s cells.

“I went in my phone. On the left there was a desk, a port where prisoners could wear tablets to visit, and a folded paper with folded paper pushed in rather deep. ” Herrera said. “When we opened the paper, we had a powdered material and it was handed over to our intelligence unit and tested it where it returned with a positive fentanyl test.”

Each staff member has identified the inmates involved in the alleged case.

Things we don’t know:

No deceased inmates have been identified.

What’s next:

MCSO I think this is a prisoner-led issue and it’s a sergeant. Joaquin Enriquez hopes for further changes when he determines which prisoners are responsible for bringing in the material.

“It has been recorded that some individuals are deliberately booked to prisons to bring drugs into and introduce them to our prison,” Sgt. Enriquez.

MCSO officials also said all prisons will get X-ray scanners soon, and in the end, keeping inmates and staff safe is their number one priority.

Estrella Prison Map