Officers Intercept Drug-Filled Football Thrown over N.C. Prison Fence
Richmond County NC October 9 2021
A drug-filled football was thrown toward a North Carolina prison — but didn’t reach its intended target, officials said.
Prison workers intercepted the ball this month before it got to an inmate at Morrison Correctional Institution, the N.C. Department of Public Safety wrote in a social media post.
A photo posted to Facebook on Sunday shows the shell of a football next to a bag that’s brimming with a shredded, brown substance.
Officials say the ball concealed marijuana and tobacco. Also inside, there was a tennis ball that held crystal meth, Brad Deen, a N.C. Department of Public Safety spokesperson, told McClatchy News in an email.
Officials said the football was discovered “out-of-bounds,” outside the Morrison “medium custody” men’s prison.The facility is in Richmond County, roughly 80 miles east of Charlotte.
“The ball was thrown over the outside fence, landing in the space between it and the inner fence…,” Deen said. “To prevent throwovers, we’ve raised several facilities’ fencing and installed netting.”
The “intended recipient,” an inmate, wasn’t found in possession of the drugs, officials said. As of Monday morning, no one had been charged in the case, and an investigation was ongoing.
It’s not the first time officials have reported finding contraband hidden near a prison.
The football post was part of a social media series called #NotOnMyWatch, which has featured photos of electronics wrapped in camouflage duct tape and marijuana packages covered in grass, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety.
Earlier this month, South Carolina police said a group with a launching device planned to aim drug-filled tennis balls toward a prison.
Charlotte Observer
