A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed Thursday that the Waseca Federal Correctional Institution was placed on "modified operations" on Sept. 4 after nine inmates were sent to a local hospital for "exhibiting signs of drug use.

Nine workers at a Minnesota prison fell ill and were hospitalized after being exposed to unknown synthetic substances possessed by men who are incarcerated.

BAYPORT, Minn. (KFGO) – Stillwater state prison southeast of the Twin Cities was placed on temporary lockdown Thursday after staff members were exposed to suspected synthetic drugs and had to be taken to the hospital. The Department of Corrections says guards responded to a report of a prisoner smoking an unknown substance in his cell.