Smuggled Heroin Overdose Kills Man Serving Weekend Jail Term

GLEN BURNIE, MD — Heroin smuggled into the Anne Arundel County Detention Center in Glen Burnie caused a Lusby man's fatal overdose, authorities said. The victim was serving a weekend jail sentence for driving with a suspended license when he died in jail Saturday.

Anne Arundel County Police say Douglas Edward Sutherland, 52, of the 600 block of Grenada Lane, was found unresponsive about noon by officers in the jail. Inmates had alerted officers that Sutherland was sitting on his bed unresponsive.

Jail staff began life-saving efforts and paramedics administered naloxone, otherwise known as narcan, a drug that can reverse the symptoms of an overdose. But the efforts were unsuccessful and Sutherland was pronounced dead.

One empty clear capsule of suspected heroin was found underneath the inmate’s bed. Detectives from the Heroin Task Force are investigating how Sutherland got the heroin into the jail.

Terry Kokolis, the superintendent of county detention facilities, told the Capital-Gazette that Sutherland was serving a weekend sentence for driving with a suspended license. He pleaded guilty on Jan. 3 and started his sentence on March 16.

As of March 21, county police say that 231 overdoses had been reported in 2018, 39 of which were fatal.

The pace of overdose deaths in the county is up by one-third in 2018 compared to the same time last year, police said. In 2017 the county had 28 deaths by the same date in 2017. And the overall number of overdoses is only slightly lower, with 231 tallied so far this year compared with 267 for the same period a year ago.

In issuing the monthly report last week, officials said that 170 people have taken advantage of help available at county Safe Stations. The Safe Station program launched in April 2017 pulled together resources to create a multidisciplinary effort, opening up police and fire stations in the county to anyone seeking treatment for drug addiction. It teams up law enforcement, the state's attorney's office and a 24-hour crisis team.

The Safe Station program helped at least 385 county residents in 2017, according to county police. In response to the heroin/opioid addiction epidemic, every county and Annapolis City Fire and Police Station, along with both Maryland State Police barracks in the county, are designated as a safe place for addicts to find help with addiction.

At any time of day or night, an Anne Arundel County resident who is a heroin/opioid addict and decides to ask for help can go to any fire station to talk to the personnel on duty to obtain assistance detoxing. The Safe Station program teams up law enforcement, the state's attorney's office and a 24-hour crisis team.

Statewide, at least 1,069 people lost their lives in 2017 because of opioid-related overdoses, according to state health department data. Anne Arundel County was one of the hardest hit areas. County police say last year over 900 overdoses were reported, and more than 100 residents lost their lives due to an overdose.

The latest fatal overdose count by state health officials released in October 2017 showed that while prescription drug overdose deaths were down across Maryland and heroin fatalities are relatively flat in recent months, fentanyl is killing more residents than ever.

The rate of fatal drug and alcohol overdoses in the state continues at an epidemic pace — especially for users of fentanyl and the even more lethal carfentanyl — say state officials, who urged users to get into treatment before it's too late. The Maryland Department of Health's data for fatal overdoses for the second quarter of 2017 showed that opioid-related overdose deaths continue to skyrocket in the state.

From January through June of 2017, there were 1,172 overdose-related deaths in the state, including 799 fentanyl-related deaths. In the first three months of the year, by comparison, there were 550 drug and alcohol overdose-related deaths statewide, including 372 fentanyl-related deaths. During the same six-month period in 2016, 969 Marylanders died from an overdose.

Heroin and prescription opioid deaths for the second quarter of 2017 are relatively flat compared to the second quarter of 2016. Heroin overdose deaths increased by seven in the second quarter of 2017 when compared to the same time frame in 2016. Overdose deaths from prescription opioids fell by seven, totaling 218 in the second quarter of 2016 and falling to 211 during 2017.

See the full state report online.

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