KIRO Team 7 Investigators first exposed our prisons handing out narcotics "like candy." Now an inmate is dead from an accidental drug overdose.

Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne discovers prison officials aren't saying much about the case, but Monroe homicide detectives tell us they are investigating the death of a 25-year-old inmate at the prison complex.

The focus of the investigation is on how an inmate, locked up under guard, obtained a lethal dose of prescription narcotics.

Prisoner Jade Jefferson had big plans for springtime. He was getting out after serving about three years for robbery. His mom says he was looking forward to a little fishing and a lot of freedom. That dream of turning his life around ended Jan. 9 as Jefferson mysteriously died in his cell.

Dorthea Jefferson says she was angry when she heard the news of her son’s death. “I said 'How the **** can this happen? How can you guys let this happen?' They said, 'He took some pills.' 'What kind of pills?' They said, 'Methadone.' I said, 'My son doesn't take methadone and how the **** can he overdose on methadone?' I was mad. I was upset. I was screaming at them on the phone.”

Jefferson's apparent overdose comes in the midst of a massive state investigation into the Washington Department of Corrections prescription drug program. Months ago, KIRO Team 7 Investigators raised questions about lack of security and accountability for prison prescribed narcotics. Now Monroe police commander Jan O'Neil wants to find out who gave Jefferson a deadly dose of drugs. “It's a concern. It's really sad that that would happen,” O’Neil told KIRO Team 7 Investigators.

She added Monroe detectives are working on the theory that Jefferson ingested a large quantity of narcotics, “prescription drugs can be purchased as well. We all know that. That there is theft of drugs and people can get their hands on that kind of thing. At this point though, we don't know until that toxicology report comes back. We don't know what that man ingested.”

Sources inside the prison tell KIRO Team 7 Investigators Jefferson had no known health problems, but still appears to have acquired a mixture of methadone and Oxycodone pills. If he did get his hands on narcotics, experts tell us they could have come from several sources. Visitors have been known to sneak them in, but more likely, another inmate gave them to Jefferson.

Our investigation found painkilling narcotics are normally handed out one at a time in supervised "pill line." Guards are supposed to watch inmates so they don't "cheek" the medication, hiding it in their mouth to sell later.

Former Monroe Corrections nurse Tim King, who spoke with KIRO-TV last November, says security in the medical ward has long been a joke.

“You're the nurse standing there at that pill line and there's a hundred guys all yelling or screaming at you. When you give it to the patient, you're supposed to have them swallow it with water, open their mouth, lift their tongue, check inside. It just isn't done an awful lot,” says King.

In November, KIRO Team 7 Investigators first exposed that the Monroe prison complexes deliver massive amounts of painkillers to inmates, far exceeding quantities at other like institutions. We discovered that one out of every four inmates in Jefferson's complex were prescribed narcotics in 2005. That means many pills were potentially available.

Our original questions prompted the state Health Department to order a team of pharmacy experts to audit prison drug records. Dorthea Jefferson says they should expand their hunt for answers to include her son's death. “He was in their custody when it happened. They should be responsible for something.”

KIRO Team 7 Investigators have talked to the state Health Department. That agency is now aware of Jefferson’s overdose death, but says that won't slow its work down. Staff expect to have a full report about the prescription drug program inside the prisons in the coming month.

For now, The Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office is calling Jefferson's death an accidental drug overdose. The state crime lab is running toxicology tests. Results could take several months.