Former Inmate Breaks Back Into Penal Farm

Natasha Chen 9:08 p.m. CST, March 2, 2011

• A former inmate at the Shelby County penal farm allegedly broke through a fence to smuggle in contraband.
• The contraband included tobacco and cell phones with prepaid minutes.
• This comes after nine former inmates were indicted Monday for smuggling drugs into the penal farm.

(Memphis 3/2/11) - A man and woman allegedly broke through a fence to the Shelby County penal farm in attempts to smuggle in contraband.

On Feb. 7 just before 6:00p.m., a corrections officer saw a man leave three packages on the inside of a fenced area by the maintenance building.

A woman was driving the getaway car, a blue Honda Civic whose tag indicated it was rented from Budget Rent-A-Car.

"They had gone up actually to that fence, cut the lock, got through that gate and then ran up to the other gate, and then heaved that stuff over the top of the fence, hoping to get it inside," said Steve Shular, the public affairs officer for the Shelby County Mayor's office.

The corrections officer recognized the man as someone who was in jail last October. The man was later identified as Randy Williams.

"They study the officers, just as much as the officers study them. They look for ways that could be security breaches. And they have a lot of time while they're in there. And so while we're watching them, they're watching us," Shular said.

While the woman driving the car, Martha Arnold, has been arrested, Randy Williams still remains at large as of Wednesday night.

Deputies said that the boxes Williams tried to smuggle contained 24 packs of Kite tobacco with rolling papers attached to each pack, 24 packs of Bugler tobacco with rolling papers attached, two Wet Mango Royal Blunts, and four Samsung cell phones with prepaid minutes.

On Monday, authorities announced two former Shelby County corrections officers had resigned and nine former inmates were indicted for smuggling drugs and other items into the penal farm.

"It's just one of those situations that shows just how desperate people are. There is a desperation among inmates that want to find other ways to get around the rules of the prison," Shular said.

He said that people will always try to smuggle things into prison, but that their security is being stepped up to try and prevent it from happening.

He said that would include training for the officers, finding ways to strengthen the policies and procedures, and more supervision of the officers themselves.