More searches at Kane jail yield bags with heroin, fentanyl residue

ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP – In a continuing effort to curb drug smuggling in the jail, Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain called for an organized shakedown of multiple housing units Jan. 21, which resulted in recovering nine small bags containing suspected heroin and fentanyl residue, officials announced in a news release.

A shakedown is different from a search, Hain stated in an email.

"It's an extensive search during which we remove all contents of their cells and replace them with new, counted contents," Hain stated in the email.

A female inmate was discovered to be in possession of seven bags while she was housed in the general jail population since Jan. 18, the release stated.

In another detainee shakedown on Jan. 22, a second female inmate was found to be in possession of seven small bags also containing heroin residue.

The substances seized on both days both require additional laboratory testing and weighing before formal criminal charges can be filed, the release stated.

Three housing units containing 159 inmates were searched on Jan. 22 with no additional contraband recovered.

The sheriff’s office is reviewing policy and procedures as an initial step in preventing the occurrence of contraband in the facility, the release stated.

Between Jan. 12 and Jan. 22, the sheriff’s office recovered 18 total baggies of suspected heroin, some of them containing fentanyl, in the main housing units of the jail. Fentanyl is a pain-killer that is often mixed with heroin.

The first incident on Jan. 12 began with the discovery of two small bags of heroin on inmate Jose Charles, 24, of Elgin, during a routine search.

A subsequent shakedown confined to Charles’ jail pod yielded no additional contraband.

Charles was charged with possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony.

Hain is also researching the acquisition of a body scanner for non-intrusive examination of all people entering the jail facility as a catch-all for contraband prevention, the release stated.