A carbon monoxide detector alerted officials of the dangerous gas inside Mason County Detention Center Friday afternoon, prompting an evacuation of all inmates and staff.
For the most part, prisoners moved to safe areas of the facility as instructed, with the exception of Julian Noel, who allegedly got into a fight with a prisoner who was later seen awaiting instructions while using an oxygen source. Noel was placed in a Mason County Sheriff's vehicle and taken to a prisoner holding area at the Mason County Judicial Center, police said.
“We practice fire drills quarterly and because of that, the whole thing went off effortlessly,” said Mason County Jailer Lisa O'Hearn. “Everyone worked well together.”
Several other high risk prisoners were also taken by van, with double police cruiser escorts, to holding cells at the justice center, officials said.
Any potential additional charges from the incident with Noel are under investigation, O'Hearn said.
The remaining prisoners stayed under guard in the sally port, and outside exercise area, which is surrounded by a high wire fence with guards nearby.
In all, including a work release crew and an inmate working at the judicial center, all of the more than 170 prisoners registered as inmates were accounted for during the incident.
According to O'Hearn, the incident began when a carbon monoxide detector alerted in the control room.
“We turned it off and reset it, and it went off again,” O'Hearn said. “That is when we called Maysville Police Department, because they have a portable detection unit. When they started going through the building it also detected carbon monoxide and their recommendation was to evacuate the facility.”
Dozens of law enforcement officers, including MCDC personnel, Maysville Police, Mason County Sheriff's deputies, Department of Probation and Parole officers and Maysville Fire/EMS members, including off duty members, were all called in to help maintain order and keep track of prisoners during the incident.
While some kept a close watch on prisoners, others fielded questions from people attempting to drop off paperwork or make deposits to prisoner accounts.
According to Mason County Judge-Executive Joe Pfeffer, who also arrived at MCDC during the evacuation, he had been told the evacuation was necessary due to the presence of carbon monoxide gas.
Columbia Gas officials were inside the facility with members of the Maysville Fire Department, Mason County Emergency Management Director Tim Nolder and O'Hearn until almost 4 p.m.
Once officials were confident the facility was free of a threat, prisoners were returned to the facility and their cells by 5 p.m.
“We did a cell-by-cell head count as they returned and again after they were all in, and everyone is accounted for,” O'Hearn said.
MCDC maintenance crews and the company which services the equipment at the jail have also been contacted to figure out why the detection units alerted, she said.
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