Jan 25, 2017 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – Covert cameras placed in an inmate strip room at SCI-Greene recorded prisoners passing a bag with a coffee can that contained a makeshift shank inside, according to the second day of testimony for the three correctional officers accused of running a contraband scheme at the state prison near Waynesburg.

Raymond Heinle, a correctional officer from SCI-Pittsburgh working on the investigation, testified Wednesday that on Feb. 3, 2015, he watched on live video as two inmates passed the laundry bag in an “exchange of property” as officer Michael S. Berry Jr. watched without searching it.

Heinle said he stopped the inmate after leaving the room, searched the bag’s contents and found a sharpened 6-inch typewriter prong in the coffee can.

“I wouldn’t have allowed that property to change hands,” Heinle said. “No, I wouldn’t have let that happen.”

Heinle added that by Berry allowing the commissary bag to be passed without checking it he “placed the whole institution in danger.”

Berry’s defense attorney, David Russo, countered that makeshift weapons such as shanks are usually found in prisons and that other corrections officers also bear some responsibility for its passage through the facility.

“You singled out Mr. Berry. He didn’t check the bag so you dragged him into court today,” Russo said. “You can’t catch all of it. You can’t stop all of it.”

Heinle acknowledged that, but noted every correctional officer has a duty to stop it when possible.

“We can only try,” Heinle said.

Berry, along with Andrew J. Schneider and John C. Smith Jr., were charged Feb. 26 with selling and transferring electronics, such as televisions, radios and keyboards, among inmates at the prison. Their lawyers argued that the intent of their clients’ actions was safety, not criminality, and that it had been going on at the jail for years.

Capt. Dave Mitchell, who has since retired from working at the state prison, testified that the investigation began with “intel” about drugs being brought into the facility. He testified that an inmate told Smith that Berry was bringing in drugs. Multiple witnesses testified that Smith was then tasked with keeping an eye on Berry.

During the investigation, police searched Berry’s home and his mother’s home, Russo said, but no drugs or drug paraphernalia was found.

In other testimony Wednesday, two SCI-Greene supervisors said they would occasionally trade cigarettes to inmates for information on contraband.

Lt. Stephen Silbaugh, who had worked as a supervisor to the three officers and was involved in the investigation of their activity, told the court about an incident when Schneider received information from an inmate about a weapon in the prison.

Silbaugh said the weapon was recovered and that Schneider “did a good job,” on that investigation. He said he told Schneider to give the confidential informant “no more than three packs of cigarettes” as compensation.

Lt. Eric Grego also testified that he authorized correctional officers to give cigarettes to inmates in exchange for valid information about dangerous contraband like drugs or weapons. But that behavior is in violation of policy, according to Mitchell’s testimony. Mitchell said he had no knowledge of Silbaugh compensating inmates with cigarettes.

“It would certainly make his judgment questionable,” Mitchell said. “You shouldn’t be giving inmates anything for intel.”

Silbaugh, Mitchell and two other witnesses testified about a meeting among the security team at the prison that took place in September 2014 in which correctional officers were warned to stop any unauthorized trading of inmate property.

Mitchell said the order for the meeting came down from state authorities, and that he “expected them” to obey the order. The defense argued that there was no roll call at this September 2014 meeting and no proof that their clients attended, though all three were scheduled to work that day.

Mitchell denied that he was aware of or ever gave permission for that kind of behavior going on at SCI-Greene.

Berry 35, of Clarksville, is charged with criminal conspiracy to commit obstruction, unlawful use of a computer, records tampering, conspiracy to commit criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.

Schneider, 35, of Grindstone, faces charges of criminal solicitation, criminal conspiracy to commit obstruction, unlawful use of a computer, records tampering and conspiracy to commit criminal mischief.

Smith, 46, of Caldwell, Ohio, is charged with criminal conspiracy to commit obstruction, unlawful use of a computer, records tampering, conspiracy to commit criminal mischief and misappropriating government property.

All three defendants are free on unsecured bonds, but are suspended indefinitely from their positions at SCI-Greene pending the outcome of the case.

The trial will continue Thursday morning, when all three defendants are expected to testify.

Regional editor Mike Jones contributed to this story.