|
|
| Cows used to smuggle tobacco to inmates |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/05/2001 |
|
A former prison supervisor is accused of using cows headed for slaughter to smuggle tobacco to inmates. Police say John L. Hester, 51, of Anderson, Indiana smuggled packages of loose tobacco into the Correctional Industrial Facility at Pendleton in exchange for money orders obtained for him by an inmate's mother. 'It was stuffed into the cow, and then the cow was brought onto the floor and it was removed,'' Indiana State Police Detective Gregory Belt said. The arrest stems from an investigative report filed more than a year ago by an internal affairs officer. According to the report, inmate Bruce Strunk was assigned to the facility's meat department in August 1998 and then moved to its "kill floor'' the following month. Within two days, he learned of a black market tobacco scheme. Trafficking in tobacco products has become a money-making opportunity in Indiana's prisons since then-Commissioner Ed Cohn banned the substance for employees and prisoners in 1997. Dozens of employees, contractors and offenders have been disciplined for violating the no-tobacco policy and, in several cases, selling or sharing tobacco products with inmates. Inmates and correctional authorities say a single cigarette can easily fetch $5 inside prison walls. Authorities say Hester began selling tobacco to inmates after he began work there in June 1997. The tobacco Hester allegedly smuggled was inserted in a cow's rectum inside plastic bags and then retrieved on the kill floor as the cows were led to slaughter. Pattison said the prison stopped bringing in cows for slaughter in 1999, but not because of their use in tobacco smuggling. 'It was more cost effective to get sides of beef,'' she said. |
advertise
|
privacy policy
|
add URL
|
about us
|
terms/disclaimer
|
contact us
|
join our team
|
help
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think