Updated with additional details about the suspect.

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office detectives are investigating after seven Snohomish County Jail inmates suffered fentanyl overdoses at the jail Wednesday night and were transported to Providence Medical Center.

According to sheriff’s office spokesperson Courtney O’Keefe, corrections deputies called a medical emergency at the jail around 7:35 p.m. Wednesday after deputy inside a housing module observed an inmate displaying symptoms of an opiate overdose. The deputy called for jail medical staff to respond and while jail staff were treating the first inmate, a second inmate in the same module began displaying similar signs of an overdose.

A total of seven inmates showed physical signs of an overdose and were administered Narcan, O’Keefe said. First responders from Everett Fire were dispatched to the scene and the inmates were transported to Everett’s Providence Regional Medical Center.

“The Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force responded to the scene and is conducting a criminal investigation,” O’Keefe said. “At this time, detectives believe fentanyl was brought inside the facility by an inmate and have identified a suspect. Fentanyl was recovered from the suspect’s cell.

The inmate suspected of having the fentanyl, a 37-year-old Arlington man, is facing charges related to possession of a controlled substance inside a correctional facility. He was booked into jail May 16 on third-degree theft warrants.

Drug task force detectives are still engaged in an ongoing investigation to determine what additional charges the inmate may face.

All seven inmates who were hospitalized have since returned to the Snohomish County Jail. The male suspected of introducing the substance to the jail was not among those seven, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Tom Morris said.

Due to the rise in fentanyl in the community, all Snohomish County Corrections Deputies in early 2023 began carrying Narcan while on duty.