(Memphis) A Shelby County correctional worker is finding out what it’s like being an inmate, because now he is one.
Taylor Layne is behind bars, accused of using his position as a nurse at the correctional facility to sneak in drugs and other contraband.
Authorities say Layne was reporting to work Tuesday at the correctional facility and, like all workers, had to go through the scanner, but they say when he went through, it kept going off.
Correctional officers say when they asked Layne to empty his pockets, he started sweating, acted nervous, paced the floor and tried to leave the building.
Officers say when they told him the doors were locked and he couldn’t go, Layne threw several packages wrapped in electrical tape on the floor.
Detectives say inside the packages were more than 120 grams of marijuana, hydrocodone and Xanax pills, 13 packs of cigarettes and, what probably got him caught, a cellphone SIM card that made the metal detector go off.
Shelby County Director of Corrections Jim Coleman says out of 400 workers who serve at this prison on Mullins Station, Layne had been working there for just 78 days as a nurse.
“There is nobody who is immune from doing dumb things. Dumb has no occupational qualifications,” said Coleman.
If convicted, Layne will likely lose his nursing license and could spend years on the other side of the barbed wire.
Coleman says he believes the vast majority of his employees are on the right side of the law and things have improved at the facility since last April, when inmates posted video on Facebook showing a stockpile of contraband and prisoners living the high life.
“The good will always win,” said Coleman.
Layne’s bail is set at $25,000.
