MOUNT VERNON — Two Mount Vernon residents were sentenced to prison for illegal conveyance of drugs onto the grounds of the Knox County Jail by the Knox County Common Pleas Court this week. The two cases are unrelated.
The charge arose out of a Feb. 3 incident in which Banks was found to have transferred a small package of methamphetamine from his regular clothes to the jail jumpsuit at intake.
Prosecuting Attorney Chip McConville noted that it was standard practice for correctional officers to ask inmates to turn over any possession of drugs of abuse, and that Banks did not disclose he had the drugs on him.
Public Defender John Pyle argued that what Banks did was the result of a moment of ill-considered action produced by panic upon being taken to the jail.
Pyle submitted that Banks has only traffic and misdemeanor charges on his record and reportedly suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The public defender argued that Banks’ issues would be better dealt with in community control rather than in prison.
Judge Richard Wetzel in sentencing noted that it is a serious offense to bring harmful materials to jail grounds.
“This is serious to keep the jail drug free and keep the population healthy. That’s what your case is about,” Wetzel said.
In another case, Korbin Dodrill, 24, was sentenced on Thursday for illegal conveyance of drugs, and illegal conveyance of weapons onto the grounds of a detention facility, both third-degree felonies.
In August, a black folding knife was found on Dodrill after booking at the Knox County Jail, according to Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Nicole Derr at an April plea hearing. Then in September, Dodrill was found to have brought methamphetamine onto the jail grounds.
Pyle contended that undiagnosed and untreated mental health issues and bad relationships contributed to Dodrill’s offenses.
Dodrill has been meeting with the Behavioral Health Partners recently although no treatment plan has been set yet, according to Pyle. Pyle expressed that he believed Dodrill’s issues would be best addressed in a Community Based Correctional Facility (CBCF) instead of prison.
Dodrill shared in open court that she has been working and supporting herself since she was 16 years old but hit a rough year, losing a job she cared about and was in a car accident. She said she recently started a cleaning business, was doing better and would like to “get out of the rut.”
Wetzel, after hearing the defense’s testimony, acknowledged that Dodrill was doing better and on “an upward trajectory.” Nevertheless, the judge said he takes the “long view” in sentencing and emphasized that it takes time for someone to stabilize.
“Sometimes when we are on that upward trajectory, we don’t know how long it takes to be strong enough to continue that trajectory. It takes longer sometimes to get strong and healthy,” Wetzel said, noting that it was what he would keep in mind when designing Dodrill’s sentence.
Reiterating what he said a day prior, Wetzel noted that “rule number one” at the jail is to protect the safety and health of the inmate and staff population. The second utmost important rule, then, is to keep out threats to the jail population’s safety and health.
Dodrill was sentenced to 18 months in prison for both counts of felonies to be served concurrently. She could be considered for judicial release into CBCF after a certain period.
