IONIA, Mich. (WOOD) — Loved ones say Ionia County Jail inmates complained of feeling ill for days before nine were hospitalized over the weekend due to a carbon monoxide buildup.

The loved ones said some inmates were still feeling sick Monday.

The Ionia County Sheriff's Office on Saturday blamed the carbon monoxide buildup on a malfunctioning boiler. It said inmates in a nearby unit experienced headaches and nausea.

"For the first few days, they didn’t know it was carbon monoxide," Jalyssa Dureen, an inmate's girlfriend, told News 8 Monday. "(My boyfriend) was puking black, his lips were turning blue, that sort of stuff."

She said inmates first said on Wednesday last week that they were sick and went through the jail's designated channels to ask for help.

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