HOLLIDAYSBURG — Five Blair County Prison inmates were transported to UPMC Altoona on Wednesday night for treatment of drug overdoses, prison board Chairman Dave Kessling said Thursday.

Of the five inmates who were transported, Kessling said one remained hospitalized Thursday in an induced coma while the others were back in prison.

Ambulance crews and officers from Hollidaysburg, Logan Township and the sheriff’s department were among those responding about 8 p.m. to a report of overdosing inmates on E-block, including an inmate described as non-responsive.

Kessling said the inmates involved in the incident experienced various reactions, including hives and vomiting.

“We believe it was fentanyl and some sort of liquid,” he said.

As to the source, Kessling said the person who is believed to have brought the drugs into the prison passed through the prison’s body scanner, without detection.

Warden Abbie Tate said Thursday that the matter was under investigation and declined further comment.

After the incident, Kessling said that drug-sniffing dogs were used to search the prison.

On Thursday afternoon, the prison board convened for what Kessling said would be a meeting on prison security. Under the state’s Sunshine Law requiring local governing boards to conduct business in public, executive sessions can be convened “for protection of public safety and security of property.”

The Sunshine Law also requires governing boards to announce executive sessions — and the specific reasons for them — either prior to convening them or at their next public meeting.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.