THIRD SUSPECTED DRUG OVERDOSE AT JOYCEVILLE PEN

Federal prisoners in Kingston continue to kill and injure themselves with
drug overdoses.

A federal inmate from Joyceville Institution is recovering from a drug
overdose suffered Friday. He is the third Joyceville prisoner in roughly
two weeks to be rushed to hospital suffering a suspected overdose.

On June 25, one Joyceville convict died and another was hospitalized as a
result of suspected overdoses.

A prisoner at maximum-security Kingston Penitentiary died of a suspected
drug overdose last week.

The Correctional Service will not release the name of the inmate
hospitalized Friday. He was found unconscious in his cell at 4:30 p.m.,
said Theresa Westfall, a spokeswoman for Corrections.

"They're treating it like it was accidental," Westfall said.

It's believed the inmate took too much of a prescription drug he had been
given.

Even if he had taken all of the drug on hand, it would not have been fatal,
she said.

The inmate was treated at a hospital in Kingston and returned to the
institution.

Three Dead

Three inmates have died this year from suspected drug overdoses in federal
prisons in the Kingston region.

In 1999, there were no drug overdose deaths. Three were reported in 1998.

The Correctional Service does not track the number of drug overdoses that
do not lead to death, Westfall said.