BOOTLEG DVDs, CELLPHONES CONFISCATED DURING SEARCH OF PRISON PERSONNEL
By Stephen Janis
Two corrections officers at the Baltimore County Detention Center have been fired and at least four others are facing charges for taking personal cellphones into the jail.
The charges are the result of an unprecedented search of prison personnel that occurred during shift change at the county lockup more than a week ago when roughly 80 guards from two shifts were searched by supervisors in the facility’s gymnasium. The search produced at least six personal cellphones and one personal cellphone battery and other contraband, including a hand sanitizer.
Corrections officers are not allowed to bring personal cellphones onto prison grounds.
The two corrections officers who were fired can appeal their termination to the county labor commissioner.
Baltimore County Detention Center head James P. O’Neil did not return phone calls seeking comment.
In other developments, Investigative Voice has learned that among the contraband found by county corrections officials were bootleg DVDs.
DISTRIBUTED TO PRISON PERSONNEL AND INMATES
The movies, copied onto blank DVDs, are believed to have been duplicated by corrections officers and distributed to other prison personnel and inmates.
The counterfeits were DVDs burned onto blank discs and labeled by prison personnel. The copies contain popular movies like “300,” “Disturbia,” and “American Gangster.”
The distribution of the bootleg DVDs has been going on for several years, knowledgeable sources told Investigative Voice.
When the search first occurred, John Ripley, head of the Baltimore County Federation of Public Employees, which represents county corrections officers, characterized the search as highly unusual, noting that regulations allow corrections officials to conduct searches when “credible evidence” is uncovered that officers are smuggling contraband.
But Ripley said county corrections officials have not told him what they were looking for nor have they provided any specifics regarding the evidence that prompted the initial search.
“We’ve had dog scans, but that was 10 years ago," he said, referring to drug-sniffing dogs used to check for contraband narcotics.
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