MERCER COUNTY, OH. (WOWO) – An Inmate at the Mercer County Adult Detention Facility was transported to Mercer Health after he was found unresponsive.

Inmates alerted corrections staff around 3:29 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon of an unresponsive inmate.  When officers arrived at the dorm, they found an inmate performing CPR on the man.  The corrections nurse on duty was called in to give aid to the inmate while waiting on Celina EMS to arrive.

Upon arrival, EMS took over treatment and administered Narcan to the man.  The inmate was then transported to Mercer Health with a deputy sheriff alongside.

K-9 units from the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office were called to the facility.  A search warrant for the inmate’s blood and urine were applied for.

According to Mercer County Sheriff, Jeff Grey, “Drugs getting into detention facilities is becoming a nationwide problem,” and that “Mercer County is no different.”  Grey is frustrated at the resourcefulness of inmates in getting contraband into the jail.  The facility has a body scanner that has detected drugs in the past, but inmates are still getting drugs into the detention center.

Detectives are currently investigating how the drugs got into the jail.

The inmate is being held at the facility on several violent felony offenses. His name is being withheld due to medical privacy laws and no other charges have been filed at this time.

Sheriff Grey did mention that he “would like to commend the inmates for their quick action and alerting staff of the emergency.’ He then adds, “Had they not done that, this young man probably would’ve died.”