Metro Corrections worker charged with bringing drugs into downtown Louisville jail
A food service worker at Louisville Metro Corrections was arrested Friday after being accused of bringing contraband into the downtown jail, and a prisoner was charged with trafficking.
Marissa Brown, a contract employee, was charged with possession of a controlled substance in the first degree, promoting contraband in the first and second degrees and prescription not in a proper container after a search led to the discovery that she had 60 various pills in her possession, FOP President Daniel Johnson said in a release.
Brown worked in the jail's cafeteria. After her arrest, Johnson said a Corrections Special Operations Team searched the cafeteria area and found several individually wrapped bundles of gray powder suspected to be fentanyl.
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Prisoner Carlos Spain was charged with trafficking in a controlled substance in the first degree in relation to the powder, promoting contraband in the first degree and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the suspected fentanyl.
"LMDC is committed to maintain(ing) a safe environment for the inmates and staff and will work relentlessly to eliminate dangerous narcotics," Director Jerry Collins said in the release. "If anyone, employee or inmate, attempts to introduce dangerous contraband into the facility, we will make every effort to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law."
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This discovery is one of many at the jail recently, though the first announced regarding an employee this year.
Last month a new body scanner equipped with artificial intelligence was installed at the jail, which each person coming into cusotdy goes through.
In just one week the scanner detected a lighter; several types of drugs, including 84 oxycodone pills; and a ring swallowed by a man in an attempt to steal it from a jewelry store, jail officials said.
Several changes have been implemented to fight contraband from getting into the jail, with at least two people dying while in custody due to overdoses since November. A total of eight people in custody have died in that time frame.
Contact reporter Krista Johnson at kjohnson3@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville Metro Corrections worker found bringing drugs into jail
