UPDATE: As of Monday afternoon, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office says 28 inmates were injured during the power outage. 11 of those inmates were transported to Eskenazi, and 17 inmates were treated by jail medical staff. Of the 11 that were sent to the hospital, 5 have since returned to Jail 2. The power went out at Marion County Jail #2 at 2:56 a.m. Monday, and was not fully back on until 4:33 a.m.
INDIANAPOLIS — Eight inmates were injured while the power was out at one of Marion County’s jails Monday morning.
Sheriff Kerry Forestal said the power outage happened at around 3:30 a.m. at Marion County Jail #2. He said some of the inmates broke some bones from falling as they were moving around in the dark. Others had minor injuries from some infighting among themselves.
“From our understanding, Indianapolis Power and Light was tracking down problems in their line, and they needed to disconnect a line to deal with the ice,” Forestal said. “In doing so that shut the power off.”
Forestal said when the power went out in the jail, the jail’s emergency back-up generator failed to turn on. He said the jail was without power for about ten minutes, and it was during that time frame the inmates were injured.
He said power was quickly restored and they are counting all the inmates to make sure all 1,127 of them are still where they need to be. Forestal added that there is no danger to the public.
Brandi Davis-Handy, Chief Public Information Officer for US Utilities, issued a statement Monday afternoon about the IPL power outage at the jail:
At 3:45 a.m., Indianapolis Power & Light Company (IPL) responded to an emergency call from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office regarding a power outage at Marion County Jail 2. IPL immediately dispatched personnel who arrived at the jail and worked to safely isolate a power line above the jail.
Frozen water on a conduit pulled wires on an IPL pole and caused the outage. Simultaneous to IPL making repairs, the jail’s backup generator initially failed, causing it to turn on and off several times, which interrupted power at the jail.
The outage was restored by IPL at 4:33 a.m. from an alternate power source and IPL dispatched an underground crew to make permanent repairs to the primary source.
