X-ray reveals cell phone in death row inmate’s rectum

Can you hear me now?

AUSTIN — Another day, another cell phone found on Texas’ death row.

Prison staff conducting a shakedown of the row today found a cell phone in the rectum of convicted murderer Henry Skinner, said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons.

They first found two SIM cards, or memory cards, in Skinner’s Bible, she said. Because they suspected he also had a cell phone, they took him to the infirmary, did an X-ray and found the cell phone in his rectum.

Today’s discovery of a cell phone is the second in a matter of days at death row, which is housed in the Polunsky Unit in Livingston.

On Wednesday, officials found death row inmate Mark Stroman in possession of a cell phone, a charger, a makeshift weapon and what appeared to be marijuana.

Stroman’s items where found just hours after a prison lockdown — prompted by an earlier contraband cell phone — was lifted.

The lockdown had been instituted in October after officials found 10 death row inmates had made nearly 2,800 calls from a cell phone, including calls to Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston.

This week’s cell-phone discoveries are of particular concern because officials Thursday said death row inmate Richard Tabler, whose cell phone triggered the original lockdown, made death threats against Whitmire and a reporter.

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