Upstate Correctional Facility in Malone, New York.

By Michael Mashburn From Daily Voice

Eleven staff members at an upstate New York prison were hospitalized after suddenly falling ill, just days after a similar mass exposure at another state facility.

The incident happened Friday, Aug. 8, in Franklin County at Upstate Correctional Facility in Malone, according to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS).

A corrections officer began feeling sick while inside a cell with a maintenance worker. The officer was taken to the prison’s medical unit, where others who came into contact with them also reported symptoms, DOCCS spokesperson Thomas Mailey told Daily Voice.

The maintenance worker did not become ill and remained on duty. All 11 staff members who reported symptoms were taken to an outside hospital for evaluation.

The cause of the illnesses remains under investigation.

The incident comes just three days after seven people were hospitalized following a similar exposure at Clinton Correctional Facility in Clinton County. 

In that incident, six corrections officers and a nurse became sick after responding to two incarcerated individuals who were experiencing medical emergencies on Monday, Aug. 4.

Three of the officers at Clinton received doses of Narcan, a medication used to reverse suspected opioid overdoses, before being taken to the hospital. All seven staff members were reported to be alert when transported for treatment.

Following Monday’s incident, the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) warned of an “alarming” increase in staff exposures to unidentified substances at Clinton Correctional.