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Pills fall from woman in jail holding cell
Posted at: 05/30/2012 5:40 PM
| Updated at: 05/31/2012 10:07 AM
By: Kumi Tucker
ALBANY -- Authorities say 38-year-old Andrea Amanatides of Albany was waiting in an Albany County Jail holding cell, when a pill fell onto the floor. Video shows her adjusting herself, but then more pills fall. She tries to kick them out of the way.
Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple says the pills came from a condom that Amanatides had hidden inside her. Authorities say the woman was waiting to be processed after she was sentenced to jail for a probation violation.
She allegedly had four bags of heroin and more than 250 prescription pills hidden in a condom inside her.
"This is a person that's familiar with the operation of the facility. This is a person who knows also the inner workings of the facility as far as the inmates go, so she knows if she has these pills, it gives her bartering power," said Sheriff Apple.
The sheriff says that obviously the condom opened up, and that she could have absorbed the drugs and put herself at risk.
"The other danger here is, of course, the possibility of somebody overdosing on them, the possibility of somebody beating her and killing her for the pills. So, it's as dangerous as a shiv inside the jail," he said.
The sheriff says this illustrates the need for his staff to be able to strip-search anyone going into the jail for any offense. Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that jailers may strip-search people who have been arrested for minor as well as major offenses, even without any reason to believe those people have contraband.
Amanatides is charged with five counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance and Promoting Prison Contraband.
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