MDOC issued the following statement and photos.
MDOC Makes Largest Regional Contraband Bust This Year at Alcorn County
JACKSON – More than 100 cellphones and cellphone chargers, large bags of tobacco and numerous other contraband items, including shoes and shanks, were seized this morning at Alcorn County Regional Correctional Facility in the largest bust at a regional since the Mississippi Department of Corrections began major shakedowns in March.
Cellphones hidden in the ceilings fell as MDOC officers searched. Light fixtures were being used to charge the phones. Phones also were found on surprised inmates. One inmate tried to conceal a cellphone by lying on it, an MDOC officer noted.
Contraband also was found in the back of television sets, inside garbage cans, and in the desk of an employee.
“I am stunned at the amount of contraband found and the level to which it appears to have been hidden in this facility housing 240 inmates,” Commissioner Pelicia E. Hall said. “Until the Department of Corrections receives a corrective plan of action, this facility is on lockdown. There is no way staff or inmates are safe with this amount of contraband.”
Hall stressed that the issue of cellphones in the hands of inmates is a public safety concern. She noted there have been numerous cases, not only in the state but also across the country, of cellphones being used to aid in criminal activity. She cited that earlier this month, a South Carolina maximum security prisoner caught in Texas reportedly used a smuggled cellphone in his escape.
“These shakedowns are being done for the sake of public safety,” Hall said. “This is our 15th shakedown under Operation Zero Tolerance. By now, all facilities should expect an unexpected visit from us.”
Alcorn, which is located in Corinth, is the ninth of 15 regional facilities to be searched. Other shakedowns have occurred at Winston-Choctaw County Regional Correctional Facility, Bolivar County Regional Correctional Facility, Washington County Regional Correctional Facility, Stone County Regional Correctional Facility, George County Correctional Facility, South Mississippi Correctional Institution, Hinds County Restitution Center, Carroll-Montgomery County Regional Correctional Facility, Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, East Mississippi Correctional Facility, Marshall County Correctional Facility, Yazoo County Regional Correctional Facility, and Holmes-Humphreys County Regional Correctional Facility.
Kingfish note: No weed was found. These prisoners are amateurs.
14 comments:
240 inmates and this much stuff? Maybe Hinds detention center is not so unique.
It might be that it is hard to find ambitious people who desire a job like this.
You are correct. I can't imagine finding anyone ambitious to do a proper job in a correctional facility given what has to be a low wage compensation and what has to be a fear of recrimination once those on the "inside" find their way to the "outside". So here is my solution: Everyone employed in the correctional facility needs to remain "anonymous". You do that with a Guy Fox "anonymous" mask. Better yet, the Ghost Face mask from the "Scream" movie. Now wouldn't that be "spooky"?
Job hell, the guards are in on it. No way this happens unless guards on are the take. And I don't blame them when they are making $22,000 and risking their lives. Go along to get along.
10:12 --- I think you meant Guy Fawkes.
Thanks for the cool photos, KF. BTW with this much stuff and likely more, it is clearly the result of an inside job, probably the guards doing ancillary sales to the inmates. It is hard to blame them due to their low pay and the lack of education required for the guard jobs. A guard can probably make more than his salary by selling contraband to the inmates. What is a realistic solution for this?
Guy Fox mask. LOL. Did you perhaps mean Guy Fawkes?
The problem is the guards. It's always the guards.
Strip search the guards when they arrive for their shift, under the supervision of an independent security company who has no contact with inmates.
Break down every shipment that comes into the facility, under the supervision of an independent security company.
I can understand the cell phones, tobacco and shanks, but what's up with the shoes?!
Forget about it, Jake. It's Alcorn County.
@12:13
The shoes are a status symbol. Inmates consider them "Free clothes" and it shows that they are able to get things into the jail and are someone that either has the money to get whatever they want (even shoes) or the power to make others pay for what they want.
Charging a phone with a light fixture? Sign that entrepreneur up!
Apparently Apple's market share is really slipping in Alcorn County. Maybe they need to put in a Genius Bar or something? I wonder if MDOC has ever thought about getting a sponsorship deal with Samsung?
"Charging a phone with a light fixture? Sign that entrepreneur up!"
Aaahhhhh, perhaps "the fellow with previous ties to the incarceration business that broke into his former home to retrieve some light fixtures" is our "entrepreneur"? If that's the case, he's already signed up!
When will Bennett Malone be charged?
Post a Comment