Prisons & Jails  –   Criminal Practice – Possession of Contraband – Sharpened Metal – Notice

Where there was evidence that (1) the defendant-prisoner unlawfully possessed a twisted metal piece of a pen that appeared to have been sharpened to a pointed tip, (2) the confiscated item could be used as either a weapon or a lock pick, (3) the confiscated item was not included in Lancaster County Detention Center’s list of allowable items, (4) LCDC’s definition of contraband includes “any item not permitted in the jail” and “any item used in a way for which it was not originally intended, and (5) defendant had notice that the confiscated item was prohibited as contraband, we affirm defendant’s conviction of possession of contraband by a county or municipal prisoner.

LCDC’s failure to conspicuously display (or specifically provide) its list of contraband violated the requirements of S.C. Code Ann. § 24-7-155. Nevertheless, the evidence showed that the sharpened pen tip was contraband and that defendant had notice it was contraband.

State v. Grier (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-048-19, 11 pp.) (Stephanie McDonald, J.) Appealed from the Circuit Court in Lancaster County (Brian Gibbons, J.) Kathrine Haggard Hudgins for appellant; Alan McCrory Wilson, William Blitch, Jennifer Ellis Roberts and Randy Newman for respondent. S.C. App.