Putnamville officer arrested for trafficking at facility

PUTNAMVILLE -- Acting on a tip, authorities at the Putnamville Correctional Facility (PCF) have arrested a correctional officer on four charges, including three felony counts, in an attempt to bring contraband into the facility on Saturday.

On June 20, the Office of Investigations and Intelligence (OII) at PCF gathered information that Officer Brian Perry Morris had recently trafficked contraband into the prison facility and would be attempting to do so again.

On Saturday, June 23 investigators from the OII team escorted the 21-year-old Morris to the interview room where they questioned him and advised Morris that they knew he had trafficked on June 13 and were aware he had picked up drugs recently.

One of the investigators asked Morris where the drugs were located, and Morris admitted that they were under the seat of his car.

Authorities reported that the item retrieved from the personal vehicle of Officer Morris contained 99 orange strips of Suboxone, 4.7 grams of brown, rock-like substance that field tested positive for heroin, and 1.89 ounces of what is believed to be synthetic marijuana.

"An example of excellent teamwork," Putnamville Warden Brian Smith praised. "Safety and security is our primary concern and preventing contraband from entering the facility is a huge part of that, but also holding those accountable for bringing it in is just as important."

Morris was transported to the Putnam County Jail and was charged with a Level 5 felony conspiracy to traffic with an offender, a Level 6 felony of possession of narcotics, a Level 5 felony of dealing a controlled substance, and a Class A misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance.

It was not immediately disclosed with whom inside the prison Morris was attempting to traffic.