The federal women’s prison in Waseca, Minn., has been under lockdown for two weeks after nine inmates were hospitalized for drug use, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Two employees at the Federal Correctional Institution, Waseca, were also sent to a hospital for potential exposure to drugs, Donald Murphy of the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in an email.
The low-security federal women’s prison has been on “modified operations” status since Sept. 4, Murphy said. This means that inmates are confined to their rooms and certain areas such as television viewing spaces.
Visits to see inmates are also suspended until further notice, the facility’s website said Wednesday afternoon.
The hospitalized employees have been released from medical care and are back at work, and the inmates have returned to the prison, Murphy said.
The women’s prison in Waseca, about 80 miles south of Minneapolis, has faced significant challenges limiting contraband, specifically drugs, a government watchdog report last year said.
Staff told inspectors that there was an inmate drug problem involving synthetic cannabinoids, also known as K2 or synthetic marijuana, according to the 2023 report by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General.
The drugs were entering the prison through letters and books sent to inmates and during in-person visits, the staff told inspectors according to the 2023 report.
