Hundreds of officers swarm Atmore prison seeking contraband
Law enforcement officials enter Holman in the early hours of Thursday morning
Hundreds of law enforcement officers saturated the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore last Thursday and recovered a large quantity of contraband that included drugs, weapons and various types of electronic devices including cell phones.
Officers with the Alabama Department of Corrections, Pardons and Paroles, the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, the Alabama Department of Transportation, the Atmore, Bay Minette and Brewton police departments and sheriff's officers from Baldwin, Butler, Escambia and Monroe counties conducted the search.
ADOC officials said the search of the prison began at 4:30 a.m. Thursday and ended late that evening.
"At the end of the day, our ADOC team, assisted by officers from our partnering law enforcement agencies, found and removed considerable quantities of contraband," said Arnaldo Mercado, ADOC director of investigations. "We inspected very inch of the facility and left no stone unturned."
Reports show officers found 356 makeshift weapons, 91 grams of methamphetamine, 98 grams of marijuana, cocaine, more than 400 assorted pills and 16 cell phones.
Escambia County Sheriff Heath Jackson said he and 12 of his deputies participated in the raid at Holman.
Jackson said the large number of officers was needed to make sure each dorm was searched at the same time. He said drug dogs, metal detectors and other devices were used in the search.
"When you go into a facility of 800 inmates, you want to show a sign of force," Jackson said.
Jackson said inmates in prison and in county jails have a lot of time to sit and think and he plans to continue holding shakedowns at the Escambia County Detention Center to keep contraband out.
ADOC officials said they will continue to conduct unannounced joint investigations to combat illegal contraband coming into the prison facilities.
