U.S. Appeals Court: CONTRABAND.

U.S. v. Allen, 190 F.3d 1208(11th Cir. 1999). A federal inmate was convicted in federal district court of possessing a prohibited object and he appealed. The appeals court vacated the district court decision and remanded with instructions. The appeals court held that under the statute that makes it unlawful for a federal inmate to possess a "prohibited object" and which defines a "prohibited object" to include an object that is intended to be used as a weapon, the intent to use the object as a weapon is an element of the offense and not merely a sentencing factor. The inmate worked as a quality assurance inspector at an on-site UNICOR (federal prison industries) mattress factory. One morning he was observed to be acting suspiciously in his conversation with another inmate and he was searched. The search produced three nine-inch tufter needles and a wooden dowel with a hole bored into one in and a rope wrapped around the other end. The needles appeared to have been broken off from one of the sewing machines. T he needles fit into the wooden dowel and when assembled could be used as a shank or ice-pick tool or weapon with a lanyard. The inmate did not contest that he possessed these objects but told his supervisor that he had intended to give them to his supervisors privately rather than in view of other inmates. (United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, Georgia)