A nurse from a private health care firm, who worked at the Lewis Prison in Buckeye, has been suspended after an incident involving contaminated needles used on two dozen inmates.

Corrections Department spokesman Doug Nick says the nurse used a syringe and then put it in a vial of insulin, allowing it to be used on inmates at three of the seven prison units.

“The potential is for blood borne pathogens, such as Hepatitis B or C, or HIV,” Nick said. “That is the potential exposure that 24 of these inmates are facing.”

Nick says the inmates will be monitored as long as they’re in the prison system. He says there fortunately were no problems following a similar incident in 2012, and Corrections officials hope that will be the case again.