Drugs, cheeseburgers: Raid inside Fulton County Jail reveals contraband operation, officials say
Deputies and detention officers conducted a raid Thursday inside the main jail in northwest Atlanta and uncovered a contraband operation at the jail annex in Union City.
Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne got exclusive access to the raid. The shakedown was a rapid response to something discovered outside the jail that alarmed the Fulton County Sheriff's Office – a large hole cut in the fence.
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'Just doing regular security rounds, I got on the shift and came back here and discovered this,' said a law enforcement official.
In all, three holes were found in three levels of fencing surrounding the complex.
Chief Jailer Jarrett Gorlin says they found makeshift fishing line in a cell already closed because someone had burned a hole in the window. He said they were using it to reel in the contraband from outside.
Gorlin says inmates commonly use wires in lighting fixtures and pieces of metal ripped from the jail interior to melt holes in cell windows.
'More than likely from last night's load, these are cigarettes that they pack in socks, copious amounts of what appears to be marijuana, cell phone, more homemade shanks, and what they use to burn the windows out,' he said.
The sheriff's office says the main jail on Rice Street was not the only facility affected. On Wednesday morning, a deputy assisted by Union City police arrested three people laying down by a hole in the fence at the jail's south annex with bolt cutters nearby.
They had a bag containing cigarettes, marijuana, cell phones, candy, vapes, phone chargers, cheeseburgers and more.
You could get a $5,000 reward if you know who's smuggling contraband into the Fulton County Jail. Call Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS (8477).
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