6 exposed to powder at Columbia prison OK

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Six people who went to the hospital after being exposed to a powder inside a suspicious package at a state prison in Columbia have been released.

Corrections Department spokesman Clark Newsom said the four prison employees and a firefighter exposed Wednesday to the powder were back at work Thursday. An inmate who also came in contact with the substance was released from the hospital and is being monitored.

Newsom says the package came to the Watkins Pre-Release Center in Columbia through interoffice mail. The powder blew out of the package when the woman opened it.

Investigators are still trying to figure out what the substance was and why it was sent to the prison.