MCSO: Five Mendocino County Jail inmates taken to hospital with overdose symptoms
One man later died after five inmates at the Mendocino County Jail believed to have overdosed on controlled substances were taken to the hospital Friday afternoon, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office reported.
According to the MCSO, an inmate inside the jail “initiated an intercom call” from a two-person cell where a responding Corrections Deputy reportedly found “one male inmate in the cell was unconscious with discoloring in the face which suggested a life-threatening breathing problem” and requested assistance from other staff members, including medical personnel.
After the deputy entered the cell and determined that the inmate was not choking as first suspected, “multiple dosages of Narcan were administered due to a suspected drug overdose (and) the inmate began to show signs of recovery and improved health.”
As staff began to “assess the health and safety of the other male inmates housed in this specific housing module,” a Corrections Lieutenant reportedly “found an unresponsive male inmate who was housed by himself, (and) correctional staff and personnel with the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority entered the cell and began providing medical aid to include the use of Narcan.”
In a nearby cell containing three male inmates, another man who appeared to be overdosing was issued Narcan, and when yet another man in another cell alone was reportedly found lying on the floor unconscious, “Correctional staff and ambulance personnel, who had just arrived at the jail, entered the cell and provided medical aid to the inmate to include the use of Narcan.”
As the Lieutenant continued the walkthrough of the housing module, another inmate was treated with Narcan after displaying “an altered level of consciousness.”
In total during the incident, the MCSO reports, “five male inmates were provided medical aid for lifethreatening suspected overdose conditions while being housed in the same housing module in the Mendocino County Jail.”
The MCSO also reports that all “five male inmates were alive during onsite medical aid efforts, and
were subsequently transported by ambulance to a local hospital for further medical treatment for their continued life-threatening medical conditions, (however), one inmate later died after arriving at the hospital.”
The MCSO did not release the man's name so that his family can be informed first, and added that “Sheriff's Detectives and investigators with the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office are conducting investigations in connection with the Mendocino County Fatal Incident Protocol.”
In a press release emailed Sunday, the MCSO identified the deceased man as Artemio Ortega Reyes, 40, of Ukiah, explaining that he was “booked into the Mendocino County Jail on Feb. 16, 2023, after being arrested by the Ukiah Police Department on open charges and active arrest warrants. Ortega Reyes was subsequently sentenced and began serving his imprisonment at the Mendocino County Jail on March 29, 2023, with a scheduled release date of Jan. 4, 2025. The Sheriff's Office Coroner's Unit is conducting a coroner's investigation into the cause and classification of Ortega Reyes' death.”