November 17, 2003
An inmate at a woman's prison turned out to be in the wrong prison:
An inmate at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women was moved to an isolation cell Monday after the prisoner said he is a man and a physical examination verified it.
Billie Jo Hawks, 43, of Battletown, had been admitted to the women's prison near Pewee Valley on Oct.22 and was housed in a dorm with female inmates. For eight months before that, Hawks was held in the women's section of the Meade County Detention Center on convictions of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and cultivating marijuana.
How did this happen? According to prison policy, the gender issue should have been exposed:
All inmates are subject to a thorough strip search as part of the admission process to any state prison to ensure no contraband is brought into prison, Lamb said. As for how Hawks' organ went unnoticed earlier, Lamb said, "All we can say for now is that clearly procedures were not followed in the admission of this inmate."
Mr. Hawks fellow inmates were also not aware of his gender:
Seelye said Hawks was held in a cell with many women during the eight months in his jail. Not once did other inmates or jail employees express suspicion about Hawks' gender or have any complaint about Hawks, he said. "We had no problems at all with this inmate," he said.
A picture is still worth a thousand words, so here is a mugshot for your viewing pleasure.
