Several Stillwater prison staff members were taken to the hospital Thursday following an incident that put the facility into a lockdown, Minnesota Department of Corrections officials said. “Several staff were taken to the hospital out of an abundance of caution,

What we knowPrison officials sent a news release with more details on the incident Thursday afternoon.The Department of Corrections (DOC) said a prison staff member responded to a report of a male inmate smoking in his cell just before 7:45 a.

Jeff Vars, president of AFSCME Local 915, the union that represents corrections workers, said in a statement that an incarcerated man at the Stillwater facility and another at a medium-security prison in Moose Lake had died from suspected overdoses in the last week.