Memphis police conduct raid at corrections center
The Memphis Police Department’s Organized Crime Unit confiscated drugs, cellphones and at least one weapon during a contraband raid at the Shelby County Corrections Center Thursday, officials said.
According to MPD, “Operation Jail House Rock” began in July when the OCU “developed information regarding several individuals conspiring to bring illegal narcotics and contraband inside the Shelby County Correctional Center,” Lt. Karen Rudolph said.
According to Rudolph, the investigation led to the seizure of 549 grams of marijuana, 9.5 pounds of tobacco, 31 pints of promethazine cough syrup, 98 Alprazolam pills, alcoholic beverages, eight cellphones and a pocket knife. Investigators identified 21 suspects; they will not be named until formally charged, Rudolph said.
Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell, who used to oversee that facility, said it’s likely that some guards were involved in the contraband smuggling.
“We think there probably were some staff involved. We’ll have to wait and see at the conclusion of the investigation,” Luttrell said. “(Those 21 arrests) is a combination of people in the community involved in this, both inmates and staff.”
Luttrell said that, since the facility is a minimumsecurity prison and as many as 500 inmates a day work in the community, contraband smuggling is a fairly common problem.
“We are constantly watching contraband problems. Much of our population works in the community every day. It’s an ongoing situation,” he said. “When you’re out working in the community, these things are going to happen.”
Convicted killer Phillip Britt was denied parole, a state representative confirmed Thursday.
Britt, 59, was one of three people convicted of the rape and murder of Deborah Groseclose in Memphis in 1977. Also convicted were her husband, William Groseclose, and Ronald Rickman. Britt’s parole hearing was held in late August, but the state board of parole just released the results Thursday. This was Britt’s fourth parole hearing.
“Phillip Britt was declined parole. His next parole review hearing is currently set for August 2019,” spokesman Riga Jorgensen said.
Deborah was 24 at the time, working as a receptionist for a neurosurgical group. She had a 6-year-old daughter from a previous marriage and a 1-year-old son with William Groseclose.
Her husband, then 29 and a Navy recruiter, reported Deborah missing on June 29, 1977. Although he met