14 Overdoses in Two Weeks Leave One Dead at Phoenix Jail
Two detainees overdosed at the Maricopa County Jail in Phoenix on February 18, 2025, joining another dozen who overdosed the week before—one of whom later died. Deputies of newly elected Sheriff Jerry Sheridan suspected that one or more detainees at the jail, all of whom are women, smuggled the contraband in their genitalia.
However, the spate of overdoses came suspiciously close to Sheridan’s decision, announced shortly after he took office in January 2025, to suspend use of body scanners on staffers entering the lockup. Former Sheriff Paul Penzone spent $5 million to acquire and install the scanners after an earlier spate of overdoses in 2023 left a detainee dead; that was traced to former Lower Buckeye Jail guard Andres Salazar, who was sentenced to a two-year prison term in March 2024 for smuggling meth and fentanyl into the lockup, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, May 2024, p.61.]
The scanners remain in use with jail visitors. Sheridan’s spokesman, Sgt. Joaquin Enriquez, noted when their use was discontinued for staff that there had been no overdoses at the jail since they were installed. Added the Sheriff: “We hire the best employees on the planet, and I trust every single one of them. We must have confidence in our employees and support what they do for our agency.”
Was that confidence misplaced? Was the Sheriff too quick to unplug staff scanners? Enriquez said no, the drugs must have been smuggled by a detainee, and an investigation would identify which detainee. “Information is documented that some individuals purposely get booked into jail to bring and introduce drugs into our jail facilities,” he explained.
Meanwhile, a detainee died on Valentines Day 2025 of a suspected overdose. Neither she nor the other overdose victims were named.
Sources: Arizona Republic, KSAZ
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