The Minnesota Department of Corrections is addressing safety concerns after multiple staff members at the Stillwater prison were hospitalized after a potential exposure to drugs.

RELATED: Stillwater Prison staff released from hospital after potential exposure to drugs

On Monday, DOC officials confirmed the facility is still “in lockdown for the next few days” for what they’re calling drug mitigation efforts.

One staff member at the Stillwater Prison who wanted to remain anonymous tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the issues with drugs in the prison have been particularly bad for a few months now, adding that the last week is really shedding more light on the problem.

“It’s like something bad has to happen before anything will take place,” said the employee.

Last Thursday, nine staff members were treated after potential exposure to drugs and several of them were taken to the hospital. Another officer was taken by ambulance to the hospital over the weekend.

“It was scary; I was concerned if it can happen to that person, is it going to happen to myself or somebody that I work with?” the employee said.

DOC officials say a prisoner caught smoking had a stronger-than-expected dose of synthetic cannabis — also known as K-2.

“We know that this stuff is very dangerous,” said DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell.

Schnell says an investigation is now underway, but in recent cases, they’ve identified the presence of K-2 soaked into paper, dried and sent through the mail.

“That can be torn up into small pieces and that can end up being distributed to people and that’s what’s being smoked,” Schnell said.

DOC officials confirm drug mitigation efforts are underway.

“We have to address the safety of our staff and the safety of the people we serve,” Schnell said.

The anonymous staff member who spoke to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS wants leadership to sit down with them and listen to their concerns.

“This is our work environment; we want to be safe,” the anonymous staffer said. “This seems to be getting worse and worse and when you try to talk to somebody, nobody wants to listen.”

The Minnesota Department of Corrections released the following statement:

Despite recent events, including the exposure that prompted nine staff being transported to a local hospital for evaluation last week, the Minnesota Department of Corrections has been proactive in taking steps to mitigate the introduction of contraband into correctional facilities.  The agency has made significant investments in ion scanner devices and body scanner technology to help detect drugs and synthetic substances and to prevent them from coming into the facilities. 

In July, the department implemented a mail project wherein all mail to incarcerated persons coming into correctional facilities at Stillwater, Faribault and Rush City, except privileged legal mail, was photocopied and the originals were destroyed. The preliminary data from the mail pilot shows that the mail scanning effort is reducing incidents of suspected synthetic drug use at the pilot sites.

“We are committed to taking necessary steps to stop the introduction of contraband into Minnesota’s prisons,” Schnell added. “We are expanding the mail copying effort to all DOC facilities and will be taking further steps to explore the safe management of privileged legal mail. Further, we are developing plans to announce a new emailing process that will improve the speed and safety of mail delivery to incarcerated people.”