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Friday, March 29, 2024

Piece of ceiling falls on inmates in a Union County prison

Generic Crime
Generic Crime

Four inmates of a Union County prison were taken to UF Health Shands Hospital after a piece of a bathroom ceiling fell on five inmates Tuesday, Florida Department of Corrections said.

A section of ceiling plaster in a bathroom at the DOC Reception & Medical Center in Lake Butler fell on five inmates at around 7 a.m., Ashley Cook, the press secretary for the Florida Department of Corrections, wrote in an email. It is unknown what caused the ceiling plaster to collapse.

Four of the inmates were taken to Shands, which triggered a mass casualty alert, according to a tweet from UF Public Safety. Information about the fifth inmate was not available.

“In an abundance of caution, inmates were transported to (an) outside medical (facility) to have their injuries evaluated,” Cook said.

Shands is a regional first-receiver in emergency situations, Rossana Passaniti, a UF Health spokesperson, wrote in an email.

“We have received and are treating four patients and do not anticipate receiving more from this situation,” Passaniti said.

Cook said the department staff of the facility began inspecting the bathroom where the inmates were and the rest of the housing unit Tuesday morning.

She said repairs would begin Tuesday.

Contact Robert Lewis at rlewis@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @Lewis__Robert.

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