Drugs, shanks and phones found in La. jail shakedown

By Bob Warren
The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate

NEW ORLEANS — For the second time since last September, Tangipahoa Parish authorities made a sweep of the parish’s jail and seized drugs, makeshift weapons and other banned items such as cellphones, the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.

Tuesday’s “shakedown” involved more than 100 agents from the Sheriff’s Office as well as the Rayburn Correctional Center and the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office in a full search of the jail in Amite, authorities said.

The investigation into the contraband continues and arrests are pending, the Sheriff’s Office said.

It’s the second extensive search at the jail since Gerald Sticker became sheriff nearly a year ago. In September, a search turned up improvised weapons known as “shanks,” homemade alcohol, a cellphone and drugs. Two prisoners were arrested after that search.

And in May, a prisoner escaped from the jail, resulting in several employees being placed on administrative leave.

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