MOUNTAIN HOME — Two female Baxter County prisoners were being screened and evaluated at a State hospital facility Friday after being treated for ingesting bleach at the county jail, the sheriff’s office said.
Haley Marie Sullivan, 26 of Salesville and Brandy Mae Qualls, 23, of the Lone Rock community south of Mountain Home, were treated at the Baxter Regional Medical Center on Thursday night after intentionally swallowing bleach, and were later returned to the detention center, Sheriff John F. Montgomery said.
Montgomery said other inmates alerted jail staff when the two inmates started to become ill after purposely drinking chlorine bleach from a cleaning cart taken to the female housing pod to allow inmates to clean their housing area.
The cleanup is a routine, daily procedure, the sheriff said. The inmates’ motivation for swallowing the bleach has not been determined, he said.
Qualls was being held without bond on one felony and one misdemeanor arrest warrant for failure to appear in court. Sullivan was being held on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges of forgery, theft and failure to appear in court and for bond revocation on previous charges.