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Windows broken by inmates in Ga. jail cells to be sealed with metal panels

DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox said inmates continue to break out windows to allow contraband from the outside

DeKalb County Sheriff's Office

DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook

By Caroline Silva
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

DECATUR, Ga. — Broken windows inside cells, many of which have been used to bring contraband into the DeKalb County Jail, will be sealed with metal panels as winter approaches.

“Deliberate inmate vandalism has left us no choice but to seal all cell windows that have been broken, burned, cracked and/or completely destroyed,” Sheriff Melody Maddox said in a news release Friday.

Maddox explained that broken windows breach security and pose a threat to the inmates’ wellbeing and health as temperatures begin to drop. Officials hope the solution will result in fewer windows being broken by inmates at the facility on Memorial Drive.

“Not realizing how open windows prevent efficient heating in their cells and puts them at risk for other dangers, inmates continue to break out windows to allow entry of contraband — items such as cigarettes, drugs, cellphones and other dangerous objects from the outside,” Maddox said.


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There have been various methods used to smuggle contraband into the DeKalb jail, with broken windows being just one of them.

In April, two women attached a bag to a rope dangling from an inmate’s cell window and were later arrested, the sheriff’s office said. The bag made it into the jail but was eventually found by officials.

A woman was arrested at the jail in May when she was found with a bag of contraband, while a rope dangled from a cell window above, officials said. It contained items such as cigarettes, bags of loose tobacco, a lighter and two cellphones.

In February of last year, a man visiting the jail was booked after deputies found a bag hidden in a bush, which was meant to be hoisted up through a broken cell window, the sheriff’s office said. The bag allegedly contained items such as cocaine, marijuana, loose tobacco, packs of cigarettes and lighters.

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