Narcotic believed found in mail at Harford jail; Hazmat team responds

Harford County's Hazmat team responded to a report of an employee at the Harford County Detention Center in Bel Air being exposed to an unknown substance, now believed to be a narcotic, while sorting inmate mail at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

The employee told her supervisor she felt light-headed and had a metallic taste in her mouth, symptoms consistent with a narcotic exposure, according to a press release from the Harford County Sheriff's Office.

The Hazmat team sampled the involved area and determined the substance was not biological in nature, but final results are pending.

A second contaminated letter was also involved and is also believed to contain a narcotic.

Detention center supervisors were evacuated and the mail room was quarantined. Inmates and members of the public were not in danger at any point, according to the release.

The employee was assessed at the scene by the Hazmat team and medics before being transported to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air as a precaution. She was reported to be in stable condition at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday.

The Sheriff's Office Special Investigation Division is investigating.

Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company also responded to the incident.