The local prison guard who was knocked unconscious and ended up in the hospital has shared his “scary” story, stressing that the state needs to stop drugs from flowing into correctional facilities.

Officer John Connelly is still recovering from the traumatic incident at MCI-Shirley last month when he was exposed to a toxic substance and rushed to the hospital.

This latest ordeal involving an injured correction officer comes as the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union continues to fight for safer conditions inside Bay State prisons.

On July 20, Connelly had been attending to an unresponsive inmate in their cell.

“It was pretty bad,” Connelly recalled about the inmate episode in a union video. “He wasn’t even responding to anything that we were saying to him.”

The prison guard then looked down at the inmate’s sock and saw a package: A piece of paper was wrapped up in a square. Connelly opened it up, and believed it was the synthetic drug K2. He saw some white residue, and quickly closed it up.

Connelly then remembers telling his partner that he was feeling weak.

” ‘I don’t have my legs. I don’t really feel that strong,’ ” he recalled saying.

As the correction officer was checked out, he got really hot and sweaty.

“I fell out of it,” Connelly said. “I don’t really remember anything after that… I could just feel my heart going crazy and then my mind started going crazy, and I don’t remember anything after that.”

He then woke up in the hospital, and was very confused. The doctor told him that he was going to be OK, but that it would take some time to recover.

“I was in pretty bad shape,” Connelly said, noting that he had multiple seizures.

This is the second time that the prison guard has been exposed to toxic substances while on duty, the previous time happening in 2018. This recent incident was definitely worse, he said.

“It’s scary because it’s really affecting me pretty bad,” Connelly said, adding that he was soon heading to see his neurologist to schedule an MRI for his head. “I just break out in uncontrollable shakes sometimes.”

“It’s hard to deal with my mental health right now,” he said, noting that he was given Narcan four times during the incident.

Connelly has a baby girl who he wants to pick up “but at the same time, I don’t want to drop her.”

In the union video, he was asked whether he feels safe at work.

“That’s a tough question, man, after what just happened,” Connelly said. “Sometimes yeah, but we work in a very dangerous environment, and I know sometimes we can be subject to this. But I just wish there was more precaution because I don’t want this happening to anyone else, because it’s not alright, it’s really not.

“I just wish we were more proactive on the drugs that are inside,” he said, later adding, “We go to serve and protect every day. We put our lives on the line because it’s not only about our safety, it’s about the people, the inmates that live in the institutions around the state. Their families are trusting us to make sure that they do their time and they get out.”

Following Connelly’s hospitalization and a reported string of similar incidents, the public safety union is urging the Massachusetts Department of Correction to implement an “exposure policy” for when officers are exposed to synthetic drugs and chemicals, including fentanyl and K2.

“Let’s try to get all hands on deck to kind of combat this,” Connelly said. “And let’s keep fighting, and let’s just keep climbing until we find something that works for both sides.”

The state agency should launch weekly or regularly rotating institutional shake downs, cell and block searches and deploy its canine department, the union president said previously.

“I will not let one of our members become a fatal statistic before the DOC leadership decides to act and work with this union to address these major safety issues,” said Dennis Martin, president of the union. “Leadership is expected to make decisions.

“Currently, there’s a void at the DOC,” he added. “Neither our members nor inmates are safe inside Massachusetts prisons. As your president, I am asking the DOC leadership to implement a policy that will protect the courageous men and women of this union.”

Originally Published: August 2, 2024 at 5:20 p.m.

BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Maura Healey said Thursday she is pressing Steward Health Care to adhere to a state Department of Public Health regulation that hospital owners must give 120 days notice before any medical facility can close in Massachusetts.

Healey made the comment a day after a bankruptcy judge allowed Steward’s decision to close two Massachusetts hospitals. Steward announced July 26 its plan to close the hospitals — Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center — on or around Aug. 31 because it had received no qualified bids for either facility.

The Dallas-based company — which announced its bankruptcy May 6 and two days later said it planned to sell off the 30 hospitals it operates nationwide — said it received qualified bids for six other hospitals it operates in Massachusetts.

“I’ve been clear with Steward, they need to stay open for 120 days. We need to have a smooth transition. Steward made the call to close those two hospitals,” Healey told reporters. “We have been hard at work looking to secure a deal that will ensure a smooth transition of ownership away from Steward to a responsible operator.”

Asked if requiring the hospitals to remain open for the 120 days is possible, Healey said “yes, yes, yes.”

“And the lenders have got to break the leases. We’ve got to break the leases. It’s ridiculous we’re in this situation because of the greed of Steward and (Steward CEO) Ralph de la Torre,” she said.

A spokesperson for Steward did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Healey was referring to lease payments Steward owes after selling their hospitals’ physical properties — including land and buildings — to another company. Both Steward and the state have argued that requiring potential buyers to assume those payments instead of negotiating their own leases — or buying the hospitals properties outright — was making it hard to transfer ownership of the hospitals.

Judge Christopher Lopez of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston approved a motion by Steward on Wednesday to toss out the master lease binding the Massachusetts hospitals.

In a letter to Steward dated Tuesday, U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren and other members of the state’s all-Democratic congressional delegation also pointed to the state regulation requiring that a hospital formally notify the state of its intent to close its services 120 days before the proposed closure date, giving state health officials time to conduct public hearings.

“Steward’s financial crisis does not exempt the company from following the law, nor does it relieve Steward and its corporate enablers from their moral obligation to the public,” the lawmakers wrote.

Massachusetts has also agreed to provide about $30 million to help support the operations of six hospitals that Steward Health Care is trying to turn over to new owners.

The payments are advances on Medicaid funds that the state owes Steward and are being provided contingent upon an orderly movement toward new ownership. The $30 million is also contingent on Steward hitting milestones and cannot be used for rental payments, debt service or management fees.

The company’s hospitals are scattered across eight states.

A Senate committee voted last week to authorize an investigation into Steward’s bankruptcy and to subpoena de la Torre. The subpoena would compel de la Torre to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee at a hearing on Sept. 12.