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Four people arrested in recent weeks accused of throwing contraband over prison fence

PLAINFIELD (WISH) — Police arrested four people in recent weeks accused of trafficking with an inmate at the Plainfield Correctional Facility.

The most recent incident happened early Monday morning.

24-Hour News 8 learned this is the fourth time in the past six months where someone attempted to throw packages over the fence at the prison.

One of those packages contained cellphones, a charger, and drugs, like marijuana and meth.

“Obviously, we don’t recommend people attempting it because you’re going to get caught,” said Raymond Kinison, Plainfield Correctional Facility public information officer.

Kinison said he has been dealing with people trying to sneak contraband into the prison for many years.

“It’s a secured facility and you know we like people to know if you attempt to do that you’re going to get caught and the state will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” said Kinison.

Kinison said the prison had back to back incidents in recent weeks. It was just early Monday morning when police arrested Tiffany Burse and Phillip Sanders in connection to the crime.

“We have a lot of stuff in place to try to deter that but it’s you know it’s not up to us to make up people’s mind they’re going to do what they choose to do,” he said.

Court documents show Burse told investigators she was paid $50 to take a man to Plainfield. She said she did not know the man. She said she had two young kids at home and needed to pay the bills.

Burse told investigators she pulled into the parking lot across the street from the prison and Sanders got out.

Kinison said people will either do one of two things.

“They’ve driven up to the fence or they’ll cut across our lawn from across the road,” he said. “You know waiting until it’s very dark and quiet and thinking there’s nobody around looking.”

But someone was looking. Prison staff shined a spotlight on someone approaching the fence. Investigators said the person dropped the package and took off running. Court documents show Sanders denied it was him.

“We tell everybody we’re a prison, we never close, we’re open 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year,” he said. “There are plenty of eyeballs around to see what’s going on.”

Police arrested Burse and Sanders in a traffic stop. Police also arrested Brianne Gover and Justin Jones on December 21 for a similar incident.

Meanwhile, Kinison said the prison increased security to prevent future attempts, like moving an access road farther away from the fence line and installing LED lights.

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