Westchester County Jail Emergency: Officials Suspect Drug Overdoses In Mass Casualty Incident At New York Jail - Report

Westchester County Police said six inmates were sickened, one critically, at the Westchester County Jail in a suspected drug overdose Sunday. The six were found unresponsive in a cell block and hospitalized. Local police confirmed the incident to International Business Times.

The department dispatched officers to handle a "medical crisis" at 2:58 p.m. The inmates were taken to a number of community hospitals in the area, one in cardiac arrest, according to scanner reports.

Multiple emergency medical units and police were dispatched to the scene at 10 Woods Road in Valhalla. County police would not confirm the specific medical conditions of the inmates or what caused the inmates to lose consciousness. Police are still investigating what drugs were involved in the overdose.

"The jail is dealing with the issue as we speak," Westchester County Police Lt. Patrick O'Reilly told IBTimes. He did not say when more information would be made available.

About a dozen people visiting relatives or friends were escorted from the jail around 3:30 p.m. EDT and the facility was placed on lockdown. One visitor said they were given minimal information, USA Today reported. "We were told to leave," Joseph Saunders, 61, of White Plains told the Journal News. "They told us somebody smoked something and passed out."

Westchester County Jail houses individuals 16 years and older. This includes men and women accused of a crime or those awaiting sentencing, as well as those sentenced to terms of one year or less, according to the jail's website. The jail also has a penitentiary division that houses men sentenced to terms of one year or less. The prison is in Valhalla, in northwestern New York. Valhalla has a population of 3,162, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau statistics.

A command post has been established, but no further details were forthcoming. IBTimes will continue to report on further developments in the situation. This is a breaking news story.