LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Deputies’ ability to administer Narcan saved the life of a female inmate at the Lake County Jail over the weekend.
Narcan, also known as Naloxone, is a medication used to reverse the effects of opioid drugs, including overdose.
Lt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said the incident involving the female inmate, whose name was not released, occurred on Saturday.
Paulich said that at 2:40 p.m. Saturday jail inmates reported to a tower officer that there may be an inmate overdosing in a female dorm.
He said deputies rushed to check the status of all inmates and found a female inmate lying on her side.
The woman didn’t appear to be breathing and was blue in the face, Paulich said.
Paulich said the correctional deputies administered a dose of Narcan. They also requested jail medical staff respond as well as paramedics.
When nurses from jail medical staff arrived, Paulich said they found it necessary to administer two more doses of Narcan to the inmate.
Shortly afterward, the Narcan began to take effect and within 10 minutes the inmate began to slowly regain consciousness and was breathing on her own, Paulich said.
Paramedics from the Lakeport Fire Protection District arrived and transported the inmate to Sutter Lakeside Hospital by ambulance. Paulich said the woman was treated and later returned to the jail facility.
“We do not have the results of what she may have taken,” Paulich told Lake County News.
Deputies conducted a search of the dormitory as well as the inmates but didn’t locate any contraband. The inmates from that dorm were tested to determine if they recently used drugs, but all tests were negative, Paulich said.
Paulich said sheriff’s correctional staffers use several different methods in an attempt to keep contraband from entering the facility, but controlled substances are easy to conceal and hard to detect.
He said this was the third time Narcan has been administered at the jail in the two years the sheriff’s office has provided Narcan for use by its personnel.
Law enforcement agencies in neighboring counties also are using Narcan in medical emergencies.
In Mendocino County, the sheriff’s office began to issue Narcan to deputies in April 2019 as part of their assigned personal protective equipment due.
Since then, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office has reported numerous incidents during which deputies have administered Narcan to individuals having drug-related medical emergencies.
The Mendocino Sheriff’s Office also reported that in December Narcan saved a jail inmate there. The corrections deputy who found the inmate also later needed a dose himself after having been exposed to a plastic bundle that had been in the inmate’s possession and which was found to contain fentanyl, a powerful and deadly opiate.
In Sonoma County, the sheriff’s office reported its first use of Narcan in July, when a sheriff’s deputy used it to save the life of a man who had just been arrested.
By that time, Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies had been carrying Narcan in their patrol cars for about six months, the agency reported.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office reminded the public that taking any medication or pills that have not been prescribed to you by a physician or provided to you by a pharmacist is dangerous.
Opiates such as fentanyl can be fatal with the ingestion of only 2 to 3 milligrams, Paulich said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Deputies use Narcan to revive jail inmate
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On