Pubdate: Thu, 06 Jun 2002
Source: Oak Ridger (TN)
Copyright: 2002 The Oak Ridger
Contact:  http://www.oakridger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1146
Author:  Beverly Majors, Oak Ridger staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)

JAIL INMATE HOSPITALIZED AFTER DRUG OVERDOSE

An Anderson County jail inmate was in the intensive care unit at Methodist 
Medical Center today after she took an overdose of drugs at the jail on Monday.

Anderson County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Neva Bowie said Katherine 
Longmire, 23, of Clinton, was taken by the Anderson County Emergency 
Medical Service to the hospital and is currently on a respirator in the 
intensive care unit. Bowie said she had not been told of Longmire's current 
condition.

Bowie said inmates alerted jailers to Housing Unit 5 at the jail about 1:45 
p.m. Monday when they noticed Longmire was in some type of distress.

"I thought she had aspirated," said Capt. Avery Johnson.

"To all of us, she appeared to be dead," Bowie said.

Johnson said the jail staff is investigating the incident, and two other 
inmates have been charged with drug offenses during the investigation.

Bowie said Tammy Freels, 35, of Batley community, and Misty Dawn Butler, 
27, of Oak Ridge, were charged with possession of legend drugs without a 
prescription and possession of Schedule II drugs, respectively.

Bowie said other inmates alerted jailers by pushing buzzers and screaming.

"Konohi and Qualls started CPR without hesitation," Bowie said, referring 
to jailers David Konohi and James Qualls. "They got a pulse but she could 
not breathe on her own."

Clinton firefighters were the first emergency personnel on the scene and 
took over from the jailers, Bowie said. Ambulance service personnel arrived 
just after the firefighters did.

Bowie said ambulance service personnel continued life-saving efforts while 
en route to the hospital.

"It's my understanding that she may be taken off of the ventilator later 
today to see if she can breathe on her own," Bowie said.

Hospital spokeswoman Ginny Baxter said the hospital cannot release 
information on Longmire.

Johnson said he thinks Longmire may have crushed Xanax tablets and snorted 
them. He said he has no positive evidence of what Longmire had taken and 
will wait for toxicology results.

Bowie said Freels had some type of pill in her possession when jailers 
searched after Longmire was taken to the hospital. She said Butler had a 
pain medication patch on her abdomen.

Johnson said that the contraband was most likely smuggled into the jail by 
an inmate in a body cavity.

"We think it was smuggled in by another female inmate," Bowie said. 
"Katherine has not been on the outside for a couple of months so she has 
not had access."

She said Longmire takes prescribed medication at the jail but that only 
Kathy Anderson, the jail's nurse, or a designated employee in Anderson's 
absence, had a key to the medication cart. She said Anderson gives 
medication as prescribed to the inmates and the inmates are not allowed to 
keep medication with them inside cells or housing units.

She said all inmates are thoroughly searched when they come into the 
facility and some are searched more than once.

"We do a pat search of everything," Bowie said. "We check cuffs, sleeves, 
pockets ... while the inmate is handcuffed and then again when we take the 
handcuffs off. The majority of people coming in are generally honest when 
asked 'Do you have a weapon, something that will stick me, poke me', 
especially the walk-ins."

Bowie said jailers do a strip search if something unnatural is felt. She 
said that strip searches do not occur daily but fairly often. The most 
common contraband is tobacco products and then marijuana, she said.

The walk-ins, people who go to the jail on their own to begin serving a 
sentence, are traditionally, here and nationally, the ones most likely to 
smuggle contraband into the facility, she said.

"They know the day and time they are to come in," she said. "They have time 
to prepare."

The ones that come in from an arrest have been searched by the arresting 
officer before being placed inside the police car.

"Body cavity searches merit a search warrant issued by a judge," Bowie said.

Johnson said a hospital physician did a body cavity search on one of the 
two inmates charged after a search warrant was secured. No other drugs were 
found during the search.

Bowie said none of the inmates inside the unit Monday initially gave 
jailers information about the incident with Longmire.

"Initially, no one saw anything," she said, adding that eventually, inmates 
give some information.

"They won't rat on each other," she said. "They do have a code among 
themselves."

Bowie said individual inmates are rarely taken out of the unit for 
questioning after an incident.

"We have to be cautious about singling anyone out because of possible 
retribution or placing them in danger," she said. "The females cohabitate 
very well, however. They tend to become like a family unit."

The jail currently has 23 women inmates, seven above jail capacity. Bowie 
said the jail has 16 beds for women and 18 women are currently in the unit. 
She said five others are being housed in other areas of the jail.

The majority of women in the jail are there because of drug-related 
offenses, bad checks, violations and failure to appear in court on those 
same type offenses.

Longmire is a state inmate and may go to the penitentiary after she is 
discharged from the hospital. She was convicted of armed robbery and placed 
on probation. Johnson said her violation-of-probation charge came after she 
earlier overdosed on drugs.
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