Staff and inmates have been rushed to hospital (Picture: Eddie Mitchell)
At least 15 prisoners at HMP Lewes have been hospitalised after a suspected mass poisoning.
Inmates and officers became ill after attending a religious service – with two prisoners at the Sussex prison said to be in a life-threatening condition.
The prison has been put in lockdown while authorities investigate.
It’s believed the victims all ate food prepared for the religious service – but it’s not yet been confirmed whether the event was a Catholic mass to mark Maundy Thursday.
Emergency services were first called to the prison at abut midday, and there is currently a chemical incident van parked up outside.
A green contamination tent is currently outside Eastbourne Hospital, where the inmates are believed to have been taken for treatment.
Paramedics as well as police are at the scene(Picture: Eddie Mitchell)
A source at HMP Lewes told MailOnline: ‘They all got sick after going to a religious event at a chapel service with food at the end of it.
‘A significant amount of staff and prisoners have been taken ill.
‘It’s either a case of food poisoning or spiking, but it’s happened far too quickly for it just to be food poisoning.
‘It sounds like food prepared in the kitchen has been spiked.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted the Ministry of Justice for more information
This is a developing news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.
(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)
Related Posts:
- Escaping prisoners tunneling out of jail are met by waiting police officers News To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next This is the moment a group of around 20 inmates tried to break out of prison through a tunnel – only to be met by a team of waiting police…
- USC cancels ‘main stage’ graduation ceremony amid protests, valedictorian controversy News One day after nearly 100 people were arrested following pro-Palestinian protests on campus, USC administrators have canceled the “main stage” commencement ceremony next month, citing “new safety measures.” USC announced Thursday the cancellation of the main graduation ceremony planned for Friday, May 10 at Alumni Park, where Wednesday’s demonstrations took place.…
- USC cancels main graduation ceremony over protest concerns News By Steve LeBlanc and Nick Perry | Associated Press The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony Thursday and dozens more college students were arrested at other campuses nationwide as protests against the Israel-Hamas war continued to spread. College officials across the U.S. are worried the ongoing protests…
- USC cancels main graduation ceremony over protest concerns News By Steve LeBlanc and Nick Perry | Associated Press The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony Thursday and dozens more college students were arrested at other campuses nationwide as protests against the Israel-Hamas war continued to spread. College officials across the U.S. are worried the ongoing protests…
- At least 32 dead as flash floods wash over half of Kenya News By Larry Madowo | CNN At least 32 people have been killed and two are missing after flash floods swept through almost half of Kenya. Some 103,500 people in all have been affected. Kenya has registered heavy rain since mid-March but downpours have intensified over the past week, leading to…