Body scan reveals shotgun shell inside prisoner

A body scan showing the shotgun shell (Morgan County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

A man being booked into an Alabama jail wound up at hospital rather than behind bars after a scan revealed a shotgun shell in his abdomen.

Prisoners entering the Morgan County Jail routinely undergo a body scan when being admitted, and a recent image showed what appeared to be a shell from a shotgun that had been swallowed, spokesperson Mike Swafford said.

“He was never booked in,” Mr Swafford said. “When our medical staff saw that, they said, ‘He has to go to the hospital’.”

We highly recommend potential inmates avoid swallowing shotgun shells prior to their visit to the Morgan County Jail. More details here:https://t.co/sXxpp1qeTw pic.twitter.com/tpfyasyb8t

— Morgan County Sheriff's Office (Alabama) (@morgan_sheriff) October 20, 2021

The man, who had been arrested by another law enforcement agency in the county, was later released on his own recognisance, Mr Swafford said, and it was not clear what happened to the shell.

The Sheriff’s Department posted an image of the scan on its social media account to let people know about the screening process at the jail, Mr Swafford said.

He said finding ammunition was unusual.

“We don’t see a shotgun shell very often,” he said. “We speculate it had drugs in it but we don’t really know.”