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Gas leak at Monroe County Jail causes hours-long lockdown

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (IUSTV News) – A gas leak at the Monroe County Jail caused the start of the facility’s evacuation plan Wednesday evening, according to a release from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

The leak started just before 4 p.m. Wednesday. The Sheriff’s Office says a maintenance crew damaged an inlet valve, and caused a gas leak on the outside of the building.

The inmate population was placed on lockdown as the Bloomington Fire Department and crews with CenterPoint Energy worked to stop the gas line.

Monroe County Sheriff Rueben Marté ordered pizza to feed dinner to the jail population, which is around two hundred. Inmate intake was relocated during the leak.

Crews repaired the damaged gas line shortly after 7 p.m. and the leak had stopped.