A Federal Prison Was Warned About Synthetic Marijuana. Then Inmates Started Overdosing.

"We are living in pure chaos," an incarcerated woman at a federal prison in Minnesota tells Reason following a string of suspected overdoses.

In February, an advocacy group warned the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) that there was a severe problem with synthetic marijuana inside a federal women's prison in Minnesota. Women were vomiting, hallucinating, and having seizures after smoking the contraband drug.

Nothing happened, besides a perfunctory reply from the warden about the agency's commitment to safety.

Last week, at least seven women at the same prison were sent to a local hospital for suspected drug overdoses, and incarcerated women and attorneys say the conditions inside are chaotic, filthy, and violent because of rampant abuse of the dangerous drug.

"Last week, out of an abundance of caution, the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Waseca sent seven incarcerated individuals exhibiting signs of drug use to a local hospital for additional evaluation," a BOP spokesperson confirmed to Reason. "All were evaluated and returned the same day."

"The [BOP] takes seriously our duty to protect the individuals entrusted in our custody, as well as to keep correctional employees and the community safe, by maintaining a controlled environment that is secure and humane," the spokesperson continued.

The conditions at FCI Waseca, which holds roughly 900 women, are part of the wider, chronic dysfunction and poor conditions inside the federal prison system. Earlier this year, the BOP shut down a women's prison in California that had become a notorious haven for corrupt and sexually abusive guards. (All of the women at that prison, FCI Dublin, were transferred to other prisons, including FCI Waseca.) Congress also passed a bill in July creating independent oversight of the BOP after congressional investigations documented widespread corruption and abuse at other federal prison complexes.

The Biden administration appointed Colette Peters, the former head of the Oregon prison system, to turn around the troubled agency in 2022, but it's a monumental task.

Among the problems plaguing the BOP—understaffing, cover-up culture, crumbling facilities, and atrocious medical neglect—is contraband drugs. Synthetic marijuana, commonly called "K2" or "spice," is especially popular in prison systems and jails across the country because it's cheap, easy to smuggle, and doesn't show up in routine urine screenings. However, advocacy groups and incarcerated women say K2 abuse is worse than usual at FCI Waseca.

Catherine Sevcenko, senior counsel with the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, an abolitionist organization, says she has been fielding regular emails from women at FCI Waseca about the drug problem there since at least last December. 

"The descriptions of being locked up with someone who is hallucinating, aggressive, unable to control their bodily functions, and ready to do anything to get their next high are horrifying," she tells Reason.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, synthetic marijuana, a catch-all category for hundreds of different lab-made drugs that target the same receptors in the brain as marijuana, can cause agitation, violent delusions, seizures, breathing problems, and heart attacks.

"The women at Waseca are desperate," Sevcenko continues. "They want their emails shared, risking retaliation from the prison, which could include time in solitary confinement, being unable to speak to their families for weeks or months, or loss of good time credits. They email me nearly every day saying they are scared for their safety. And with good reason. Waseca's public track record is abysmal."

Three women have died at FCI Waseca since 2023: two from suicide and one, Sevcenko alleges, from medical neglect. 

This February, Sevcenko sent a letter to the warden of FCI Waseca detailing accounts from inside the prison about women smoking K2 and vomiting, having diarrhea, seizures, and hallucinations. Users became aggressive and paranoid. Addiction and drug debts were leading to violence and theft.

The Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment requires that incarcerated people be held in generally safe and hygienic conditions, and Sevcenko warned that the prison's failure to stop the introduction and use of K2 may violate the Constitution.

"Everyone who has reached out to us believes that someone will die, whether from over dose or being attacked, if things do not change quickly," Sevcenko wrote.

A week later, the warden replied, although his letter was little more than a restatement of BOP policy.

"I would like to assure you that the Bureau of Prisons is committed to providing a safe and healthful environment for individuals in our custody, as well as our staff," FCI Waseca Warden Michael Segal wrote. "The introduction and use of illicit substances within our facilities is prohibited and the prevention of such remains a priority to all Bureau staff. At FCI Waseca, procedures exist to prevent and detect the introduction of contraband into the facility, as well as to prevent and detect the use of illicit substances inside the facility."

Those incarcerated at FCI Waseca say those procedures have done nothing to stop widespread drug use in the prison. They also say the number of hospitalizations provided by the BOP understates the scope of the problem.

"We are living in pure chaos and have been for months on end, with no end in sight," Holli Wrice, who is currently incarcerated at FCI Waseca, writes to Reason in an email, which has been edited slightly for clarity. "It was 12 women to be exact. Two had to be resuscitated. It was a total of 38 women that fell out in a matter of 6 days, and there were numerous others that staff were not aware of that other inmates threw cold water on to bring them out of the state they were in."

In May of last year, the Justice Department Office of the Inspector General released the results of an inspection of FCI Waseca. The report found that the prison is "generally well-run, with dedicated staff and an environment in which both inmates and staff generally reported feeling safe."

However, the Inspector General also cited a "significant challenge limiting the amount of contraband in the institution, specifically drugs (synthetic cannabinoids and illicitly acquired opioid use disorder medication)." In addition, the report noted "serious facility issues," such as roofs that routinely leak and women being housed in basement cells with beds next to leaking pipes.

A BOP spokesperson says an investigation into last week's incidents at FCI Waseca is ongoing.

Sevcenko says the women inside FCI Waseca can't wait.

"A prison sentence should not be a death sentence," she says. "But if the BOP doesn't do something soon, women are going to die."