COOK COUNTY, IL – A Cook County Grand Jury indicted two individuals in custody at the Cook County Jail after a Sheriff’s Office investigation found them in possession of paper soaked in synthetic cannabinoids, Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced today.
On April 27, jail staff recovered strips of drug-soaked paper in the right sock of Alexander Hansen, 19, of Chicago, who was being housed in Division 6. The next day, jail staff recovered drug-soaked paper hidden in a notebook being carried by Kiante Byrd, 22, of Chicago, while he was being housed in Division 11.
In each case, the contraband subsequently tested positive for synthetic cannabinoids.
On Tuesday, grand jurors issued indictments charging both men with one count each of Possession of Contraband in a Penal Institution, a Class 1 felony.
Hansen has been held in custody at the jail without bail since Sept. 29, 2022 on charges of armed robbery with a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon/vehicle/no FOID. Byrd has been held at the jail without bail since July 3, 2020 for first-degree murder.
The charges are part of the Sheriff’s Office’s efforts to address the danger of drug and chemical-laced paper that has been a growing trend in correctional facilities across the country, including the Cook County Jail, which has had to institute numerous new policies, including increasing the searching of mail and regulating paper brought into the facility, to protect staff and those in custody.
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