Vance County Detention Center Administrator Maj. William Mitchell, Sheriff Curtis Brame and others are working feverishly to comply with a corrective action letter requiring improvement in five different areas at the jail – from staffing shortages to making repairs, supervision schedules to contraband.

It sounds an awful lot like the carnival game Whack A Mole at times, as one area is addressed another two or three pop up.

If there were more corrections officers at the jail, maybe there would be fewer instances of detainees destroying property. If property weren’t in disrepair, maybe detainees wouldn’t be able to sneak in contraband through a hole cut in a perimeter fence.

With the recent dismissal of several corrections officers, Mitchell told Vance County commissioners Monday afternoon at a special called meeting to discuss next steps at detention center, Mitchell said “somehow the contraband has dramatically slowed down.”

Another policy that is being put in place at the jail requires two people to be present when there’s any contact with a detainee. It can be two corrections officers, a CO and a deputy sheriff, Mitchell explained, but always two people.

And as for staff going off site for “smoke breaks” without being screened again upon return to the facility?

“Those days are over,” Mitchell said.

Neither Brame nor Mitchell is in favor of having staff go through the body scanner, however.

The scanner is used every day for detainees entering or returning to the jail, Mitchell said, but not for staff because of its “intrusive” nature.

Two stand-alone units – one for cell phone detection and one for metal detection have been ordered and should arrive soon, he added.

“The greatest success will be in no single (person) contact with inmates,” Mitchell emphasized as he offered details about reducing the amount of contraband entering the jail.

And from the “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” Department comes this from Mitchell, when asked about a rumor going around about a detainee and Bojangle’s food.

“That’s not a rumor,” Mitchell said, referring to the food item simply as a breakfast treat.

“There was a video or picture taken by an inmate and posted on social media, so we all know it happened.”

The correction officer in question no longer employed at the detention center. “And we presume that the cell phone was recovered,” Mitchell said.