Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell recently gave LiveTusc members a tour of the county jail as part of the organization's Conversation Series. (LiveTusc)

NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) - members of a local group aimed at acquainting young adults with Tuscarawas County recently got a chance to see what life looks like behind bars. 

Following a presentation by Sheriff Orvis Campbell, Sgt. Cherie Creager took LiveTusc members on a tour through the county jail, explaining their daily routine that’s designed to keep corrections officers and the inmates safe. Creager says they’ve had to adjust to the evolving crime rate.

“Because of our maximum security, the population has grown immensely. We’ve got two maximum-security units now and protective custody is down the hallway,” she says. “Another nice feature of our facility is we can shift the populations around. The dorm that you’ll see that was added for the females has been a male dorm occasionally, so just depending on where things are at.” 

Creager says a major problem they are trying to address is drug use inside the jail. She says the law prohibits officers from conducting cavity searches without a warrant, and without proper scanning equipment contraband inevitably slips through the cracks. 

“He was in his cell for maybe half an hour at most, gets assaulted, like violently, by two inmates. We can watch them on camera. [It was] just like you see in the movies. The guys were putting boots to his head. We had to go in, get him… take him out, run him up to medical to check his injuries. [A] bag of dope falls out of his shorts. It just literally fell out of his shorts,” she says.

The sheriff’s office is raising money to purchase a new body scanner that will allow them to detect smuggling activities. So far they’ve received donations from two local judges and commitments from the board of commissioners, raising nearly $100,000 for the $150,000 piece of equipment they plan to purchase soon.

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