Photo courtesy of MDOC
Earlier this week, corrections officials at the South Mississippi Correctional Institution were able to intercept a large amount of contraband.
According to the Department of Corrections (MDOC), new technology alerted guards to the presence of 25 packages that had been thrown across a remote section of the prison’s perimeter fence around 1:30 Monday morning. Inside of the packages was a wide variety of items that included drugs, cell phones and even chicken wings. In an effort to clear the 18-foot high fence, the unidentified smugglers sewed some of the contraband into footballs.
Among the contraband seized, officials found:
- 4 pounds of marijuana
- 20 pounds of tobacco and rolling papers
- 38 cellphones, chargers and Blue Tooth earbuds
- An assortment of cigars
- Over-the-counter cold medications
- 10 cans of snuff
- Several packs of cigarettes and lighters
- 1 scale
- 1 head scarf
- 7 pounds of chicken wings.
“We are making Mississippi prisons safer for inmates and Corrections officers by stopping the flow of contraband,” MDOC Commissioner Burl Cain said. “Gang leaders use contraband as a way to control other inmates and we’re choking off their operations they’ve used for decades to control prisons. Now we’re installing and using the latest security systems, drones overhead, and cameras and scanners everywhere plus we’re recruiting and hiring the best and brightest criminal justice graduates. Governor Reeves wants us to bring Mississippi Corrections into the 21st Century and we are.”
SMCI Superintendent Andrew Mills said Security Chief Michael McLendon spotted the slow-moving vehicle driven by the smugglers and a search is underway by state and local law enforcement.
