Tombs raid
Drug ring inside jail broken up
A “JAILHOUSE shopping network” feeding drugs, and other contraband into the Manhattan Detention Complex has been dismantled, officials said Thursday.
Veteran city Correction Officer Patricia Howard, 44, was at the center of a distribution ring involving an inmate and his relatives, all of whom worked to bring pot, cocaine, iPhones, lighters, pliers and oxycodone into the lower Manhattan jail known as the Tombs between December 2014 and May.
As a result of the Howard probe, authorities also discovered 64 bed sheets tied together — possibly to be used for an escape attempt— in the possession of MDC prisoner and attempted murder suspect Ernest Murphy, 25.
“Contraband materials are the leading cause of jailhouse violence and they can also be used to effect an escape,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said at a news conference.
Howard, who was allegedly responsible for getting the items into the facility, was ordered held on $500,000 bail at her arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Inmate Tommy Davis, 56, had his sister Velver Jean Davis, 58, and niece Khalilah Mattocks, 35, acquire the goods that would be sold inside the walls of the jail, prosecutors said.
All face drug charges, conspiracy, promoting prison contraband and other counts.