A corrections deputy arrested last week on a drug trafficking charge was part of a smuggling operation that may be connected to a fatal overdose at the jail, according to Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch.
on a drug trafficking charge was part of a smuggling operation that may be connected to a fatal overdose at the jail, according to Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch. The sheriff told FOX10 News that investigators are still looking into that, but he added that they are confident that defendant Jessica Monique Odom was not working alone.
He said he expects to arrest inmates who were involved in drug dealing behind bars. Odom, 32, of Mobile, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to trafficking fentanyl, attempt to distribute drugs and attempted promotion of prison contraband. Because she is a former Mobile County Metro Jail employee, she has been transferred to the Baldwin County Corrections Center, Burch said. A judge set Odom’s preliminary for next month. Her attorney, Marcus Foxx, could not immediately be reached for comment. Law enforcement authorities allege that Odom was taking advantage of her job as a corrections deputy to smuggle in sheets of paper sprayed with fentanyl. From there, Burch said, inmates would divide the paper into tiny squares and sell them to other prisoners, who would swallow them, smoke them or dissolve them in coffee. He said it can be quite lucrative – and potentially deadly. “They’ll have a piece of paper, and they’ll tear a corner off,” he said, demonstrated with a sheet of paper from his desk. “That’s 40 bucks. And like I said, this piece might be fine; the next piece might be fine. Then you get one down here that’s a little more saturated, it will kill you.” Prisoners call the paper-infused fentanyl “paper route.” Burch said it can be hard to detect, although he added that drug-sniffing dogs at Metro Jail can pick up the scent.The sheriff said investigators are still trying to determine if drugs Odom is accused of bringing inside played a role in the suspected overdoseThe sheriff said investigators had been suspicious of Odom for some time, in part because a relative of hers had been arrested on a drug trafficking charge. He said the resulting investigation led to her arrest and termination. The drug trade inside a jail or prison is more complicated than on the outside. It starts with a supplier in the free world. A smuggler then hands of the drugs to prisoners on the inside who distribute them to other inmates. There is no money in jail, so the sheriff said buyers get friends or relatives to arrange deposits into the sellers’ inmate accounts.Gary York, a former corrections officer and senior inspector in the Florida prison system, said drugs triple in value once they hit a prison. He recalled setting up a sting in which an undercover officer posed as the cousin of an inmate. The officer demanded $1,200. In many cases, he said, corrections officers can haul in similar amounts of money for drug volumes that do not even meet the trafficking threshold under Florida law. “In some cases, the officers are making – the corrupt officers, excuse me – are making more money bringing in drugs than they are on a regular paycheck,” said York, the author of “Corruption Behind Bars: Stories of Crime and Corruption in out American Prison System.”York said rogue corrections officers can have a corrosive impact on morale. “When you have a group of honest, hard-working officers working within a correctional facility and you have a corrupt officer smuggling contraband in to the inmates, it tanks the image of all of our hard-working, honest officers,” he said. Added York: “These contraband items have caused much disruption within the inmate population. And there are several types of contraband that can cause harm to everyone working behind prison walls.” York said jail administrators must take the problem seriously. He said corrections officers must be trained in ethics, as well as inmate manipulation. He said it is important to build a culture in which officers do not look the other way when they see their colleagues violating the rules. Burch said he has a zero-tolerance attitude toward law-breaking within his ranks. He pointed to former corrections officer Frederick Johnson, whom he said wasin the middle of his shift in May last year on allegations that he smuggled phone chargers, a camera, camera watch, and flash drives with explicit adult movies into Metro Jail. He is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 18. Burch said employees, as a security measure, are required to carry clear bags when they enter the jail. He said the department is considering $100,00 scanner similar to one at the jail’s sally port. The sheriff added that recruiting remains a challenge, with staffing at the jail down about 50 corrections officersYork said constant vigilance is a must. He said sometimes corrections officers start their shifts without contraband and then sneak it in during mid-shift breaks. “You’ll never get it all, but we can sure put a dent in it and help protect those working in the prison, as well as the inmate population,” he said.
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