GALVESTON — More than half of the Galveston County jail’s inmates spent the night vomiting and having diarrhea, and officials think a bad batch of bologna sandwiches is to blame.

The Galveston County Health District will conduct tests on food samples to find out what gave 543 people food poisoning Wednesday.

At 5 p.m. Wednesday, 10 inmates were complaining of upset stomachs, jail commander Maj. Mike Henson said. As nurses were checking them, jailers began noticing similar complaints rippling through the 1,083-bed facility, Henson said.

At the height of the outbreak, 543 inmates were throwing up and having diarrhea. On Thursday afternoon, about 400 inmates were still sick.

One person was taken to the University of Texas Medical Branch for dehydration.

Shawn Robb, whose 28-year-old son is in the jail after his probation was revoked, said her son called Wednesday night complaining the sick inmates were mistreated. Robb said her son told her he and other inmates were stranded without toilet paper, and one inmate wasn’t provided clean clothes to change into.

Henson said those claims were false. He said the jail had plenty of toilet paper and kept up with laundry to give inmates fresh clothes.

Extra doctors and nurses came in to treat the inmates and to find out what caused the outbreak.

On Wednesday, inmates had oatmeal for breakfast and bologna sandwiches with pasta salad for lunch. The pasta salad consisted of cooked noodles, Italian dressing and pickle relish, Henson said.

The jail’s food service is contracted to ABL Services, based in Baton Rouge, La.

The first people complained of sickness just before dinner was served, so officials suspect something at lunch caused the illness, said Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo, spokesman for the sheriff’s office.

Since the outbreak, jailers started bringing in cases of Gatorade to hydrate the inmates.

But Thursday morning, a “mini disturbance” erupted when some inmates who were tired of the liquid diet demanded food, Henson said.

Jailers gave inmates a choice for lunch Thursday: chicken noodle soup or rice, gravy and meatballs.

Henson said he remembers two other times inmates’ food got contaminated. He said the worst case, four years ago, affected 110 inmates.

“You clean, you scrub, you clean, you do everything you can to maintain a healthy environment,” Henson said. “The worst thing that can occur is an outbreak like this.”

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