Indiana Prison Inmate Trafficking

An Indiana man who police say hid razor blades, knives, cellphones and handcuffs in books sent to inmates at two state prisons and a Gary jail faces felony charges of trafficking with an inmate. Philip Michael Shelton of Bloomington was arrested after an investigation that began when a discount bookstore contacted police after receiving a package that had been returned from the Lake County Jail. The package contained a book with a hidden compartment that contained a cellphone.Similar packages were delivered to the Westville Correctional Facility and the New Castle Correctional Facility. Indiana State Police say the inmates who received the items “were violent and high-risk offenders.”