FCI-Milan inmate accused of possessing marijuana in prison
An inmate serving time for a drug conviction at the Federal Correctional Institution in Milan is accused of hiding more than three-and-a-half grams of marijuana in his cell, federal court documents say.
Donald Brelje, 31, who is originally from St. Paul, Minn., is charged with possessing contraband, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in federal court in Detroit.
If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
On March 14, a corrections officer received a tip from an inmate that Brelje had marijuana in his cell, according to an affidavit supporting the complaint by FBI Special Agent James Brennan. Officers later searched Brelje's cell and found marijuana inside 13 folded pieces of paper, the affidavit says.
Brelje consented to an interview with the FBI on March 30, and acknowledged the marijuana was his, the affidavit says.
According to the affidavit, Brelje estimated he had the drugs for about 10 hours before officers confronted him. Details of his original drug conviction were not available.
Comments
mi4198
Mon, Aug 2, 2010 : 12:02 p.m.
No wonder Kwame wanted to be transferred there.
Ricebrnr
Sun, Aug 1, 2010 : 8:42 a.m.
Interesting video article on prison contraband, it sheds some light on how things like this happen: current.com/shows/vanguard/91492360_prison-contraband.htm
actionjackson
Sat, Jul 31, 2010 : 9:36 a.m.
Did anyone check to see if he has a MMMC. (michigan medical marihuana card?
Nacho
Fri, Jul 30, 2010 : 10:45 p.m.
Yeah, so this is the only time, someone has had contraband at Milan? Weird that I have never seen any stories about FCI before Kwame was there.
John Galt
Fri, Jul 30, 2010 : 5:32 p.m.
I just KNOW that Kwame is involved in this somehow....:))
treetowncartel
Fri, Jul 30, 2010 : 1:31 p.m.
Does anyone know if prisoners, federal or state, can get a prescrition for, and use, medicinal marijuana?
Carl Duncan
Fri, Jul 30, 2010 : 12:13 p.m.
If any one believes this site is a news paper, or anything remotely similar to one, you are grossly mistaken. I apologize for the monitor for removing prior informative comments I have made in the past.
walker101
Fri, Jul 30, 2010 : 9:23 a.m.
You got to be kidding, this is news worthy? Where have you've been? I forgot, your from A2 where life is a liberal paradise, maybe you should do an editorial on how drugs enter the prison systems and how those outstanding citizens we call inmates are a product of our conservative beliefs, now that's news.
jjc155
Fri, Jul 30, 2010 : 7:15 a.m.
@rice he likely will not be in OTIS since he is from Minnesota and in a federal prison. Even if he broke the federal laws that he is incarcerated for, in michigan he would not be in OTIS. That is a Michigan only state charge database for MDOC. www.bop.gov which is the federal bureau of prisons has a inmate locator but not sure if it pulls up conviction info like OTIS does for MDOC. as for how did he get the MJ in there, well obviously it was either smuggled in by 1) another prisoner 2) a gaurd 3) a visitor or some how made it through mail check. For every guy that gets caught there are likley 100 others that don't and he only got caught because an informant told on him.
labtech
Fri, Jul 30, 2010 : 7:12 a.m.
@LANDS: My question was actually in regards to thoutman's comment. What else would he like to be reported?
LANDS
Fri, Jul 30, 2010 : 6:50 a.m.
Labtech, comments are a way to express their concern. It seems goofy for a world overrun with crime & increasing tolerance for maryjane that we chase this small amount in a prison and then offer more free room & board for another 5 years (at a cost of $35K+/yr) to this person for hmm, what could be $10-20 worth of weed. So we will spend over $150k to take $20 of pot off the streets ( oh, wait it was sort of off the streets).
Ricebrnr
Fri, Jul 30, 2010 : 5:53 a.m.
@Humdinger Off the top of my head, I'm going to guess he chose to break a law (or two), was caught, arrested, tried and convicted. Wild guess I know maybe I'll checkmy speculation against OTIS later.
mr54
Fri, Jul 30, 2010 : 5:18 a.m.
AA.com picking up stories like this can be likend to a High School news paper digging up anything they find just to make it news.
Ricebrnr
Fri, Jul 30, 2010 : 12:26 a.m.
Why that would be a logical follow up question for a journalist to at least address in the story, wouldn't it?
obviouscomment
Thu, Jul 29, 2010 : 8:46 p.m.
um...how did he get it???
Milton Shift
Thu, Jul 29, 2010 : 7:49 p.m.
5 years for a small amount of marijuana? Remind me which is more harmful to users again - pot or prison?
thoutman
Thu, Jul 29, 2010 : 5:51 p.m.
This is news how???