Being a corrections officer means having to walk a thin line between finding ways to rehabilitate prisoners, while also keeping in mind that many of those same prisoners would let nothing stop them from a chance at escape. Part of the latter means staying one step ahead of criminals who will stop at nothing to smuggle contraband and weapons into prison, both for their own personal use and for profit.
This became all too real for officers at the Delaware County Jail in Pennsylvania while they were processing 26-year-old prisoner Brayan Thompson. Thompson was being booked on a charge of burglary in the second degree, a felony that can be accompanied with anywhere from 10 to 25 years in prison.
As the officers were searching Thompson, he was asked to remove his belt. Upon removal, officers were surprised to discover a makeshift knife with a serrated inner edge and can opener forged onto the buckle of his belt. The blade was concealed by the belt, but not well enough it seems.
Thompson’s initial charge was bad enough, but he will now face a new charge of promoting prison contraband, a class D felony. Regardless of whether or not Thompson intended to use the belt to cause harm to himself or others, the concealed weapon poses a potential risk to inmates and corrections officers and cannot be tolerated.
Thompson was arraigned for this charge in the nearby town of Delhi Court, and then taken back to the Delaware County Correctional facility where he was originally being processed. Unable to pay the $ 2,000 bail on his new charge, Thompson is currently still imprisoned in Delaware County, but may find himself transferred to a different prison after a future court appearance for the smuggling charge.