Two NH Prisons Shut Down Visits After Drug Overdoses

UPDATE, 12:32 p.m. on Jan. 13, 2017: New Hampshire State Prison for Men Warden Michael Zenk announced today that regular inmate visitations will resume at the facility beginning on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017. To view a breakout of the regular dates/times that visits occur at the Concord facility, visit nh.gov/nhdoc/facilities/documents/concord-visit-schedule.pdf.

The original story from earlier this week is below.

CONCORD, NH — The New Hampshire Department of Corrections has shut off visitation for all prisoners this week as it investigates four overdoses in the system and how those prisoners obtained drugs, according to a press alert. Three inmates at the New Hampshire State Prison for Men in Concord were found unresponsive and another prisoner was found deceased in the Calumet Transitional Housing Unit in Manchester this weekend.

According to Jeff Lyons, the public information officer for the NH DOC, Michael Cullen, 48, of Rochester, was found unresponsive at Calumet around 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2017.

“Correctional staff provided emergency first aid to the resident until the Manchester Fire Department arrived and continued until they determined that the inmate was deceased,” he noted. “The Chief Medical Examiner’s Officer responded and is investigating the cause of death.”

Three other inmates were discovered unresponsive in the residential areas of the state prison during the course of the weekend, Lyons noted.

“Correctional staff administered NARCAN in two instances and the inmates survived the incidents,” he noted.

The serious nature of the overdoses led Warden Michael Zenk to cancel all visits at the Concord facility this week. Attorney-client visitations will be allowed on Jan. 12.

“This action is being taken to protect the safety of the inmate population until the Department of Corrections Investigations Bureau can identify the type and source of the drugs used by the inmates as well as the point of entry for the drugs,” Commissioner William Wrenn added in a statement. “We are very concerned about drugs inside of our facilities and appropriate steps will be taken at the conclusion of the investigation to discourage the introduction of contraband in the future.”

The bureau is conducting “a thorough investigation” of the incidents at both facilities including the addition of new K-9 units to inspect all areas of the Concord prison. Zenk will make a determination of whether or not the visiting will be re-opened Jan. 13, Lyons noted.

Despite being secure facilities, drug contraband getting into prisons has been a problem for as long time.

In recent years, a number of people around New Hampshire have been arrested and indicted on charges after allegedly bringing drugs into the prison system.

Back in 2013, a Concord School District elementary school teacher, Peggy Sinclair, was arrested on drug smuggling charges. In 2014, her DNA – saliva on an envelope – was allegedly connected to the case.

Last year, Meghan Conway, a New Hampton woman with a previous drug conviction, was indicted for allegedly bringing fentanyl to the Merrimack County House of Corrections, to be given to inmates. Charmine Preston of Derry was also indicted in 2016 on drug delivery charges at the Merrimack County facility.