Update: Deep Details On Smuggled Shank

    Our NewsChannel 9 investigative team uncovered more details about an inmate who smuggled a shank into a Hamilton County courtroom.

   It's a story we broke Tuesday afternoon on this website.

   On Monday afternoon 18 year old Kelvin White was handcuffed, ankle shackled and escorted from the jail but managed to get a homemade knife inside Judge Don Poole's courtroom.

   Our investigative team was given direct access in this security breakdown. Deputy Chief Ron Parson,  over court security, called it a "serious breakdown."

   Both Deputy Chief Parson and Chief Richard Shockley, over jail security, are exploring disciplinary measures after the investigation is completed.

   But first we want to retrace Kelvin White's exact steps. Chief Shockley walked us through the path, beginning at the jail's basement elevator. White came from an upstairs cell and was wearing an orange jumpsuit. He was being held under isolated requirements or "protective custody." Shockley says in White's case he was being kept away from other inmates.

   White ended up in Judge Poole's court on charges he was involved in the home invasion of an 86 year old woman. According to court documents and past stories, the blind woman was pushed down and kept on the floor with a gun pointed at her.

   That alleged crime happened in February of 2009. On Monday afternoon, White, who turned 18 in mid January, was one of seven defendants in Judge Poole's courtroom.

    "Our guy with the thing yesterday came out of protective custody. So he was not searched on this side of the building," Chief Shockley explained just before we boarded the same elevator.

    Questions about this security breakdown start here. Chief Shockley walked us through White's exact path. Chief Shockley says protective custody inmates are routinely not waved with a wand because they are in cells alone.

    But this breach has prompted several questions. Chief Parson says something has to change. Meanwhile, Chief Shockely says the 18 year old accused rode alone on the elevator and then through this tunnel which runs under Cherry Street. It opens in the basement of the courthouse.

    Once in the courthouse basement, a guard escorted White to a holding cell where he stayed by himself, according to Chief Shockley. The chief over the jail says any surveillance video of White's path will be reviewed during thsi investigation.

   Meanwhile, Court Officer Jim Pickett, who actually spotted the shank and helped remove it, described it as about five inches long, with a metal blade and handle made from what appeared to be a nylon hair net that had been shredded and wrapped around the blade.

So how and where did he get it? Chief Shockley says the investigation will cover all of White's movements and the Criminal Investigative Division of the Sheriff's Department will likely handle interviews. As for the physical backtracking, Chief Shockley said, "We'll look from over there (motions upward to White's jail cell) all the way through the process to here (the holding cell in the courthouse basement), upstairs where he would have been upstairs under their auspices and to the courtroom."

   From the basement, White went to an elevator that moves to an area behind the actual courtrooms. He rode upstairs to the third floor and the secure holding room outside Judge Poole's courtroom.

   Around 4:30 Monday afternoon, Officer Jim Pickett, who was seated about six feet from White spotted the shank. Pickett was the last line of defense.

    Deputy Chief Parson says Officer Pickett and Terry Fowler are to be commended, but this weapon should've never gotten this far, "I don't know where the breakdown is as far as searching them when they come out of the jail and going into the courtroom. I don't know. I just found out about the problem yesterday. Just as soon as I get with Chief Shockley, we're going to sit down and try to find out where the breakdown is because it's a serious breakdown," Parson said.

   Officer Pickett says he noticed White fidgeting with the leg irons, particulary on his left leg. He was seated in the jury box with the six other defendants. Pickett looked over and noticed a "lump" in his left sock. According to the arrest affidavit,  Officer Fowler walked over and asked White "what was in the sock." The affidavit says he "refused to answer." Officer Fowler "pulled the sock down and revealed the shank (homemade knife)."

    Chief Parson said his officers performed well, "They took immediate action." But he added this shank should never get into a courtroom. Parson attended a federal seminar this afternoon but said he and Chief Shockley would sit down Thursday and get to the bottom of this. Chief Shockley says he expects answers within three or four days. Depend on us to keep you updated.