Within five minutes, according to the affidavit, Fischer started to stumble around and asked for medical help, telling a colleague: “I don’t feel good, it’s going up my arm.” He was taken to a hospital and died two hours later.
Fischer’s cause of death remains undetermined pending toxicology reports, the affidavit said.
Briefly touching fentanyl cannot cause an overdose, and researchers have found that the risk of fatal overdose from accidental exposure is low.
There was no attorney listed in court papers for Jones, who expected to appear in court on the charges next week in Fresno. A number listed in public records for Ferreira did not have voicemail set up. No working phone numbers could be immediately found for Rudd.
Fischer’s death is the latest serious incident in the Bureau of Prisons, which operates 122 federal prisons and has faced myriad crises in recent years, from rampant sexual abuse and other criminal misconduct by staff to chronic understaffing, escapes and high-profile deaths.
In 2019, the agency began photocopying inmate letters and other mail at some federal correctional facilities across the country instead of delivering the original parcels, in an attempt to combat the smuggling of synthetic narcotics.
Legislation was introduced by a bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers in 2023 to require the Bureau of Prisons’ director to develop a strategy to interdict fentanyl and other synthetic drugs sent through the mail to federal prisons nationwide. The bill has stalled in the House.
