WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The Sedgwick Canton Sheriff's Function says inmates accept been getting the synthetic drug K2 mailed to them on sheets of paper and those inmates have been selling it to other inmates.

Sheriff Jeff Easter says seven jail inmates had adverse reactions in the by 24 hours. One of them had to be taken to the infirmary for handling. The adverse reactions range from vomiting to passing out to appearing to have drug-induced psychosis.

Easter says the people who were mailing the K2-laced papers learned that the sheriff'southward role is not immune to search legal paperwork and then they disguised it as legal paperwork.

"What we're seeing is papers that are coming through the mail either in personal mail service or legal mail, such every bit an attorney sending through legal postal service and these papers are sprayed with a liquefied K2," he said.

Easter says the inmates who got the K2 newspaper and then sold it to other inmates.

"Charging between $10 for but an inch foursquare of K2 up to $500 for a full canvass of K2," he said.

The inmates used the K2-laced paper by lighting it and smoking information technology.

"Inmates are very creative in hither," Easter said. "If there's anything that's metal that they can put into a low-cal socket to make a spark, they create a burn down that style. And so we take done a bunch of things to our lite sockets but yet once more, you know, we have to nevertheless make certain that they're treated humanely so you know coffee pots, those type of things, microwaves, those type of things are utilized within the facility which requires an outlet. And so if there's annihilation that they can break off that's a piece of metal from the floor from our metal that surrounds the, all the cells and the doors, they take that and employ it. I mean, that'due south how they also at times are able to self tattoo is by utilizing those type of innovative ways to create fire."

Easter says the investigation started in September and involved the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) which he says has also been having the aforementioned trouble.

He says they identified two people who were responsible for sending the K2 paper to inmates. They issued warrants for their arrest. He says those two were institute at a west Wichita motel and arrested. Easter says deputies also constitute what is believed to be dynamite in the motel and ATF is now involved.

"Nosotros believe that these two folks were sending it to Kansas Department of Corrections inmates and our inmates inside the facility here," he said.

Sheriff Easter says that in all investigators intercepted more than than lxx sheets of K2-laced newspaper. He said that sometimes the newspaper has obvious clues like stains or a waxy appearance. Other times, it does not.

"We've created some preventative measures to be put in place to start controlling the mail that comes in hither for certain identified individuals that nosotros know that have been running K2 through our facility," he said.

Easter said that quondam in January, the jail volition have all post get to a third-party vendor to exist scanned. From there, scanned copies will be sent to inmates.

Easter says jail pods were searched Thursday and several inmates take been identified as being part of distributing K2 in the jail. He also said they found more K2-laced paper which could bring the total to 90-100 sheets of the newspaper.

"The biggest issue that nosotros always have inside the jail is safety and security, safety and security for the deputies that work inside of here and also the inmates. This created a large condom and security consequence for us," he said.