MedicCook
01-09-2007, 12:25 AM
Police: Woman tried to use tampon to smuggle weapon
FORT ANN -- A Connecticut woman's apparent attempt to smuggle drugs and a weapon to her husband in Great Meadow Correctional Facility over the weekend raised some eyebrows.
State Police said the woman put 2.5 grams of heroin, some unidentified pills and a scalpel inside a tampon -- which she inserted into her body and tried to sneak, with the contraband, into the maximum-security prison Saturday morning.
Authorities said the smuggling attempt was one of the more unusual in the never-ending battle to try to keep drugs and weapons out of jails and prisons.
Charged with felony counts of of promoting prison contraband, conspiracy and misdemeanor criminal possession of a controlled substance was Cassandra Jones, 42, of Rocky Hill, Conn., authorities said.
Corrections officers at the prison had received a tip Jones might be trying to bring drugs and a weapon into the prison. With the assistance of State Police and the Washington County district attorney's office, they convinced her to turn over the evidence, officials said.
Washington County District Attorney Kevin Kortright, who has prosecuted hundreds of prison contraband cases, said he's seen everything from snack cakes to typewriters used by visitors to try to secrete drugs, weapons and other contraband.
A couple of years ago, a visitor at Great Meadow was caught with Devil Dogs snack cakes in which the cream had been removed and replaced with marijuana. In 2005, a typewriter brought in to a prisoner was used to carry a cell phone into the facility, he said.
At a state prison in another part of the state, Kortright said, he heard of a case in which a visitor hollowed out a banana, replaced it with drugs and resealed the peel.
"We've seen them try some pretty ingenious things," he said.
Officials said it's not just ignorant friends and relatives being enlisted by inmates.
Jones is a third-grade teacher. Last year, a hospital administrator was caught trying to smuggle marijuana into an inmate at Great Meadow, authorities said.
Dennis Fitzpatrick, a former Great Meadow officer and former spokesman for the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, said longtime officers have seen the tampon trick tried before, as well as various others involving body cavities.
"They'll do anything," he said.
Fitzpatrick said packages inmates receive are another big source of contraband, with officers intercepting items as deadly as bullets from time to time.
"The big thing now is they (inmates) are trying to get cell phones in," Fitzpatrick said. "They had to shut down Attica (Correctional Facility) because they were smuggling them in in books at the law library."
Jones was arraigned in Fort Ann Town Court and sent to Washington County Jail for lack of $50,000 cash bail or $100,000 bail bond.
It was unclear Monday whether her husband, a New York City man who is serving a 25-years-to-life prison term for second-degree murder and other charges, was going to be charged. His name was not released because he had not been charged in the contraband case.
Linda Foglia, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Correctional Services, said the inmate has been sent to the prison's special housing unit pending further investigation and disciplinary charges.
"He's obviously facing internal disciplinary charges, as well as possible criminal prosecution," Foglia said.
She said the state prison system processes 750,000 visitors and 600,000 packages a year.
http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/01/08/news/doc45a3193f6b2b7737658593.txt
FORT ANN -- A Connecticut woman's apparent attempt to smuggle drugs and a weapon to her husband in Great Meadow Correctional Facility over the weekend raised some eyebrows.
State Police said the woman put 2.5 grams of heroin, some unidentified pills and a scalpel inside a tampon -- which she inserted into her body and tried to sneak, with the contraband, into the maximum-security prison Saturday morning.
Authorities said the smuggling attempt was one of the more unusual in the never-ending battle to try to keep drugs and weapons out of jails and prisons.
Charged with felony counts of of promoting prison contraband, conspiracy and misdemeanor criminal possession of a controlled substance was Cassandra Jones, 42, of Rocky Hill, Conn., authorities said.
Corrections officers at the prison had received a tip Jones might be trying to bring drugs and a weapon into the prison. With the assistance of State Police and the Washington County district attorney's office, they convinced her to turn over the evidence, officials said.
Washington County District Attorney Kevin Kortright, who has prosecuted hundreds of prison contraband cases, said he's seen everything from snack cakes to typewriters used by visitors to try to secrete drugs, weapons and other contraband.
A couple of years ago, a visitor at Great Meadow was caught with Devil Dogs snack cakes in which the cream had been removed and replaced with marijuana. In 2005, a typewriter brought in to a prisoner was used to carry a cell phone into the facility, he said.
At a state prison in another part of the state, Kortright said, he heard of a case in which a visitor hollowed out a banana, replaced it with drugs and resealed the peel.
"We've seen them try some pretty ingenious things," he said.
Officials said it's not just ignorant friends and relatives being enlisted by inmates.
Jones is a third-grade teacher. Last year, a hospital administrator was caught trying to smuggle marijuana into an inmate at Great Meadow, authorities said.
Dennis Fitzpatrick, a former Great Meadow officer and former spokesman for the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, said longtime officers have seen the tampon trick tried before, as well as various others involving body cavities.
"They'll do anything," he said.
Fitzpatrick said packages inmates receive are another big source of contraband, with officers intercepting items as deadly as bullets from time to time.
"The big thing now is they (inmates) are trying to get cell phones in," Fitzpatrick said. "They had to shut down Attica (Correctional Facility) because they were smuggling them in in books at the law library."
Jones was arraigned in Fort Ann Town Court and sent to Washington County Jail for lack of $50,000 cash bail or $100,000 bail bond.
It was unclear Monday whether her husband, a New York City man who is serving a 25-years-to-life prison term for second-degree murder and other charges, was going to be charged. His name was not released because he had not been charged in the contraband case.
Linda Foglia, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Correctional Services, said the inmate has been sent to the prison's special housing unit pending further investigation and disciplinary charges.
"He's obviously facing internal disciplinary charges, as well as possible criminal prosecution," Foglia said.
She said the state prison system processes 750,000 visitors and 600,000 packages a year.
http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/01/08/news/doc45a3193f6b2b7737658593.txt