Fentanyl-laced drugs suspected as cause of nine overdoses at Saskatoon jail in two weeks

Nine inmates overdosed at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre in atwo-week stretch on a substance officials believe is laced with fentanyl, according to Ministry of Corrections and Policing spokesperson Drew Wilby.

One of the inmates died on November 7. The remaining eight have all been hospitalized.

The inmates were all in the short-term remand unit. Wilbysaid the high turnover rate in the unit is partof the problem.

"You have people coming from court, you have people coming from the community, whether that be through the police and then remanded in, or through the court and remanded. So that does present challenges, it presents challenges of new arrivals, potentially new substances," he said.

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Wilbysaid staff have focused on cleaning out the entire unit.

"Our team has been in there the past few days doing a full, basically a refurbishment of that unit, taking out all of the furniture, taking out all of the mattresses and putting in new, to try and address this issue," he said.

Police have used drug dogs.

"Contraband drugs have been found,"Wilbysaid. "Until this is putto rest it will definitely be a live concern."