Possession Of Contraband In A Correctional Facility Lawyer In Conroe, TX
Texas Penal Code § 38.11 turns items that are minor or lawful outside a jail into a third degree felony once they are inside one. This page covers what the statute prohibits, who gets charged, the penalties and how these cases are defended in the county where the jail sits on Criminal Justice Drive.
What Is Contraband In A Correctional Facility In Texas?
Texas Penal Code § 38.11 makes it a third degree felony to bring alcohol, a controlled substance or a dangerous drug into a correctional facility, to provide listed items such as a weapon, money or a phone to a person in custody, or for a confined person to possess a phone or drugs. The amount does not change the level, and a prescription is a defense.
Understanding Texas Law
How Does Texas Law Define Contraband In A Correctional Facility?
The Montgomery County Jail sits at 1 Criminal Justice Drive in Conroe and is run by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. Roughly 1,100 beds, with a daily population that regularly runs over a thousand. Sheriff's Office headquarters sits at the same address.
Section 38.11 reaches beyond that one building. The statute defines "correctional facility" itself, and the term covers other places that hold people under arrest, charge or conviction. The same rules apply wherever a person in Montgomery County is confined.
The statute describes four kinds of conduct:
- Providing, or holding with intent to provide, a listed item to a person in custody
- Taking alcohol, a controlled substance or a dangerous drug into the facility
- Possessing alcohol, drugs or a deadly weapon inside the facility
- A confined person possessing a phone, or an outsider acquiring one for that person
Items the statute names:
- Alcohol, controlled substances and dangerous drugs, except on a practitioner's prescription
- A deadly weapon
- A cell phone, other wireless device or any component of one
- Money provided to a person confined in the facility
- Tobacco products, which in a county jail count only when the act breaks a rule set by the sheriff or jail administrator
The people charged are a mixed group. Some are arrestees who still had something on them at booking. Others are visitors accused of passing an item, relatives accused of sending money or a phone, contractors, staff, and people already in custody found with a device.
Penalties And Consequences
What Are The Penalties For Contraband In A Correctional Facility In Texas?
Section 38.11(g) sets one level for the whole statute. There is no misdemeanor tier for a small amount. These are the limits the law allows, not a prediction for any one case.
Under § 38.11(g), including attempt.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
- Classification
- Third degree felony, including a criminal attempt under subsections (a), (b) or (c).
- Prison range
- Two to ten years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
- Fine
- Up to $10,000.
- Phones
- A confined person who possesses a phone or component, and anyone who acquires, provides or pays for a device meant for a person in custody, face the same third degree level.
- Affirmative defenses
- A valid prescription, delivery to a pharmacy or practitioner, and certain officer or employee weapon possession, as the statute words them. A narrow clergy exception covers small amounts of sacramental alcohol.
- Stacked charges
- A separate drug possession charge under the Health and Safety Code can be filed for the same substance.
- Probation
- Whether community supervision is possible depends on the judgment and the person's record, and the court decides.
A felony conviction is a permanent public record, and it can follow a person long after the sentence ends.
Real Questions
What Do People Ask About Contraband In A Correctional Facility In Texas?
What if I did not choose to bring the item into the jail?
Does a prescription medication count?
Can a phone found in a cell lead to a new felony?
Does the weight of the drug matter?
Possible Defenses
How Can A Contraband Charge Be Defended?
A § 38.11 case depends on when and where the item turned up and who had control of the space. An attorney reviews the booking records, the search and any video to see what the state can show. No result can be promised.
The state must prove the item was a listed item, that the person knew about it, and that the facility fits the statutory definition.
Evidence and constitutional issues.
Booking video, property inventories, search logs and visitor records are the heart of the file. If officers searched a visitor or a cell, the basis for the search and the chain of custody of the item can be examined. Lab results confirm whether a substance was in fact a controlled substance.
For a person already on supervision, a new arrest can also be alleged in a probation violation motion that runs on its own track.
The Search
Was the search at booking, in a cell or at visitation conducted lawfully, and what did it miss earlier?
Voluntary Act
Did the person choose to bring the item in, or was the person carried in under arrest?
Knowledge And Control
Who had access to the space where the item was found?
The Lab Result
Does testing confirm a controlled substance, and was it handled correctly?
The Records
Do video, logs and the property inventory agree with the report?
Statutory Defenses
Does a prescription or an authorized role fit the facts?
Local Process
What Happens After A Contraband Arrest In Montgomery County?
A contraband charge is a felony from the start, so the path runs through a grand jury and a district court.
The Discovery
The item is found during a booking search, a cell search, a visit or a mail check, and an officer writes a report.
The Grand Jury
Because § 38.11 is a felony, the case is presented to a grand jury, which can indict or return a no-bill.
District Court
An indicted case is set in a felony court, and it can run alongside the case that brought the person to the jail.
- Where it is filed
- A grand jury first. After indictment, heard in the district courts at the Montgomery County Criminal Justice Center on 207 W Phillips St, a different building from the county's misdemeanor courts.
- Who prosecutes
- The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.
- Who makes the arrest
- Conroe Police Department, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, Texas DPS Highway Patrol, Montgomery County Constables, Precincts 1 through 5, Willis Police Department, Shenandoah Police Department, Oak Ridge North Police Department, Magnolia Police Department, Splendora Police Department, or Roman Forest Police Department, or jail staff when the item is found inside.
- Where you are booked
- The Montgomery County Jail at 1 Criminal Justice Drive, run by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.
- If the case is appealed
- Appeals go to the Ninth Court of Appeals in Beaumont.
Resolving the contraband count and the original charge together, whether by dismissal, reduction, plea, deferred adjudication or trial, shapes the whole felony record.
Next Steps
What Should You Do After A Contraband Charge?
These steps are general information, not advice for any one person.
Do Not Discuss The Item
Statements to jail staff or on recorded calls can become evidence.
Note Where You Were Searched
Write down when and where you were searched and what you were asked.
Gather Prescriptions
Save pharmacy records and prescriptions that explain any medication.
Read Both Charges
Check whether a possession charge was filed for the same substance.
Watch Recorded Jail Calls
Calls and messages from the jail are recorded and reviewed.
Tell Your Supervision Officer Through Counsel
If you are on probation, ask a lawyer how a new felony arrest is handled.
A lawyer can review the search, the lab work and the records behind the charge. Mitchell Law Firm offers a confidential conversation about contraband charges in Montgomery County.
Official Texas Sources
Read The Law Behind This Page
- Texas Penal Code Chapter 38: § 38.11, prohibited substances and items in a correctional facility
- Texas Penal Code Chapter 12: Third degree felony punishment
- Texas Penal Code Chapter 6: Voluntary act and culpable mental state
- Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 481: Controlled substances
- Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 20A: Grand jury proceedings
- Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 39: Discovery of the state's evidence
Who Handles Your Case
The Texas Lawyer Who Speaks Science
Attorney Brennon Mitchell isn't just a seasoned Conroe trial lawyer. He's one of the few in Texas, and the entire country, to earn the prestigious title of an ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist. That means he's gone beyond the courtroom and into the laboratory, receiving in-depth, hands-on training in forensic chromatography, the same kind of testing used by crime labs to try and convict Texans every day.
What does that mean for you?
It means when the state uses blood alcohol or drug testing to try to prove its case, Mr. Mitchell knows how to challenge it. He's trained to:
- Analyze lab results and spot faulty science
- Cross-examine forensic experts with precision
- Break down complex chemical evidence in plain language for juries
This is not the kind of background you find in most criminal defense attorneys, and it could make the difference between a conviction and a clean slate.
Brennon graduated from Texas A&M University School of Law and practices from offices in Orange and Conroe.
Client Reviews
What Clients Say About Brennon Mitchell
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different and is decided on its own facts.
Related Topics
Other Criminal Charges Handled In Conroe, TX
A contraband count rarely stands alone. It is attached to the arrest that led to booking or to the case of the person being visited. See the full criminal defense overview for Conroe.
Other Criminal Charges
Property, weapons, and public order offenses that sit outside the main categories.
Probation And Sentencing
What a sentence can look like, and what happens when the terms of one are challenged.
Records And Defense
How a case can come off, or be shielded on, a record, and the defense tools the law provides.
Common Questions
Jail Contraband Questions People In Conroe Ask
What is the charge for taking drugs into the Montgomery County Jail?
Taking alcohol, a controlled substance or a dangerous drug into a correctional facility is an offense under Texas Penal Code § 38.11(b). Providing one to a person in custody falls under § 38.11(a). Every offense under the section is a third degree felony, which carries two to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, and the amount involved does not change the level.
Can someone arrested in Conroe with a pill in a pocket also face a contraband charge?
A person booked into the jail while still holding a controlled substance can be charged under § 38.11 on top of the possession charge. Texas Penal Code § 6.01 requires a voluntary act, and Texas appellate courts have considered whether a person brought in under arrest voluntarily entered the facility. The details of the search and the booking matter to that argument.
Is it a crime to put money on an inmate's account or hand cash to someone in the Montgomery County Jail?
Section 38.11(a)(4) lists money among the items that may not be provided to a person confined in a correctional facility. The state has to prove the money was provided to someone who was confined there. How it was delivered, to whom, and what the sender knew are part of that proof.
What happens if a person in custody in Conroe is found with a cell phone?
Under § 38.11(j), a person confined in a correctional facility who possesses a cell phone, a wireless communications device or a component of one commits a third degree felony. Section 38.11(k) separately covers someone outside who acquires, provides or pays for a phone or service meant for a person in custody. A new felony can also complicate the case the person was already held on.
Where is a contraband case from the Montgomery County Jail heard?
A § 38.11 charge is a felony. It goes to a Montgomery County grand jury and, if an indictment is returned, is heard in one of the district courts at the Criminal Justice Center, 207 W Phillips St in Conroe. The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office prosecutes it.
Does the contraband law apply to visitors, relatives and jail staff in Montgomery County?
The providing provisions in § 38.11(a) apply to anyone who delivers a listed item to a person in custody, whether a visitor, relative, contractor or employee. The affirmative defenses are narrow. They cover a valid prescription or delivery to a pharmacy or practitioner, and a peace officer or authorized facility employee who possesses a weapon as part of the job.
Mitchell Law Firm, PLLC
One Arrest, Two Felony Questions
A contraband count can turn a lesser arrest into a felony case. The search, the booking and the paperwork behind them are where the facts are.
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