Contraband found in Cummins Unit mail
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Department of Correction emphasizes the importance of correction officers remaining vigilant against contraband after finding fake mail hiding K2 at the Cummins Unit, according to the department’s Twitter page.
The department also says on it’s Facebook page that the correctional sergeant found a flip phone and a smartphone inside hollowed books.
“And here’s a fine example of why inmate property has to be searched thoroughly,” said the post. “The picture shows contraband taken from one inmate at East Arkansas by a Correctional Sergeant. Inside of one book, the Sergeant found a flip phone. Hidden inside the cover of another book, a touch screen smart phone. And that’s not all. The inmate’s property also contained two six-inch shanks.
There on the right side of the picture. We don’t know what he might have been planning. But whatever it was, you can bet it wasn’t good. Searches by officers save lives. It’s that simple.”
The inmate’s property at the East Arkansas Regional Unit also reportedly contained two six-inch shanks.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A proposal would provide a defense for victims of human trafficking if that person committed a violent crime as they were being trafficked.
Democratic state representative London Lamar sponsored HB 17 in the 2019 legislative session. It would’ve given protections to people who committed a crime when they were trafficked and thought their lives were in danger or were threatened with bodily harm. However, that bill was sent to summer study when other lawmakers raised some red flags about potential abuse if the bill became law.
“That seemed like a very blunt instrument to a lot of people in the stakeholder community and law enforcement and others,” said Dickson Republican State Representative Michael Curcio. “I think this committee agreed with that.”
Rep. Curcio chairs the criminal justice subcommittee and presided over Monday’s summer study of the issue. “I think most of the difficulty was around the presumptive language,” he said.
“The language before, I was concerned would really lend itself for someone to take advantage of it to commit a cold blooded murder,” said Portland Republican Rep.
William Lamberth.
Rep. Lamar said she was aware of the committees critiques of the bill and plans to make changes to the language so that the bill can still be beneficial to trafficking victims without any potential for misuse. She said new language would be added to the bill where the victim would have to prove they were a victim of trafficking.
“It’s up to the defense to prove and it’s up to the judge and the jury that this is sufficient enough evidence. This bill would not automatically give you self defense, it’s an opportunity to prove self defense,” said Lamar.
Lamar said the bill was written in direct response to the story of Cyntoia Brown.
Brown was sentence to life in prison for the murder of 43-year-old Johnny Allen.
Brown said, at the time, she was a victim of human traffi cking.
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Mississippi Lottery will begin selling tickets Nov. 25
JACKSON, Miss. — The new Mississippi Lottery will start selling scratch-off tickets Nov. 25. That’s the Monday before Thanksgiving, and it’s slightly earlier than expected.
The lottery corporation had said for months that the sales probably would begin by early December. The organization announced the start date in a news release Tuesday.
The corporation also is starting to let convenience stores and other retailers know they have been accepted to sell lottery tickets.
Mississippi has been one of just six U.S. states without a lottery, but lawmakers met in 2018 and authorized the games of chance to help generate money for highways.
The Mississippi Lottery Corporation said in August the Multi-State Lottery Association approved Mississippi for Powerball and Mega Millions. Sales for those games are expected to begin during the first three months of 2020.
