Inmate Charged with Smuggling

A 34-year-old Hancock man was indicted Wednesday by a grand jury on felony charges for allegedly stealing nearly three ounces of marijuana from the evidence room at the sheriff's department and smoking it in his cell.

Malcolm, who has since been moved to the Penobscot County Jail where he is serving time for an unrelated matter, has been charged with theft, burglary and transporting prison contraband into the jail. He faces a maximum prison term of five years for each charge, if convicted, according to Det. Steve McFarland of the Hancock County Sheriff's Department.

McFarland said Wednesday Malcolm was a "trusty" allowed to do work assignments to reduce his sentence. Between 1 and 7 a.m. each day, he said, the inmate cleaned the dispatch area where the evidence room key hung.

The detective said he suspects Malcolm took the key when a new, less experienced dispatcher was on duty. He said the dispatcher would have had to move while the floor behind the front desk was cleaned. He said he noticed the evidence room key had been moved to a different hook from the one where it normally hung.

McFarland said that human error was to blame, but he also faulted the substandard jail that is currently in violation of state corrections standards. He noted the facility's laundry room had to be converted into a temporary holding cell, and laundry is now done by inmates outside the security perimeter in a room where some of the marijuana was found.

"The jail is so cramped right now, it is compromising security," he said.

McFarland said the Hancock County Courthouse's maintenance supervisor Ron Stanley discovered a marijuana joint in mid-April, concealed under a floor runner in a basement hallway that links the sheriff's department and jail and courthouse building.

Several days later, McFarland said, the discovery was brought to his attention. He said a search ensued and a plastic sandwich bag containing pot was found hidden near an electrical conduit in the current laundry room located in the corridor, where access is limited to county employees and inmate trusties.

In addition, the Detective said a Ziploc-type bag containing 11 plastic sandwich bags with smaller amounts of marijuana, as well as one with pot tightly wrapped in black electrician's tape, were found in a pile of oriental rugs recovered from a string of burglaries and stored in the basement hallway. A wad of duct-tape containing pot was also found separately in the pile of rugs. Known as "butt plugs," the cylindrical wads of tape containing sandwich bags are inserted rectally by inmates to conceal drugs when they are strip-searched before entering the jail.

The detective said he recognized some of the bags in the Ziploc-type bag because they had been labeled by the forensic laboratory. He said the bags had been stored in the jail's evidence room. He said any seized pot is kept in a large bag until there is a large enough quantity to destroy.

In the rug pile, McFarland said a fanny-pack was also discovered. He said it contained a sandwich bag with a tiny amount of pot, cigarette rolling machine, forceps and film canisters containing stubs of marijuana joints.

McFarland said Malcolm's cell was searched and a marijuana pipe and the finger to a rubber glove--which both had a residue of pot--were found. He said an empty bottle of Southern Comfort bourbon was also found in a panel under the shower in Malcolm's cell block.

McFarland said the bottle and bag were fingerprinted. He said the prints matched those of Malcolm.

McFarland said Malcolm admitted to smuggling "a small amount of marijuana" into the jail but "refused to talk about anything else" without his lawyer.

The detective suspects Malcolm swiped the key only long enough to unlock the door to the evidence room. He said the inmate also had access to the basement hallway and would have been able to stash the stolen pot, make the "butt plugs" and smuggle small amounts into the jail without it being detected in strip searches.

McFarland believes Malcolm managed to smoke the pot undetected in his cell by hanging a wet towel over his head and stuffing a towel under the door. He said a towel was found in his cell.

A day or so before the marijuana was discovered, he said one of the jail guards thought he smelled pot in the basement hallway but couldn't find the source.

McFarland said inmates are screened by jailors before being given work assignments. He said Malcolm became a trusty after being admitted to the jail last February on several charges, including burglary.

"It's not foolproof but it gives them an indication of how trustworthy they are as a trusty," he said.

The detective said that the evidence room key is now in his sole possession and that other measures have been taken to beef up security.

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