Authorities say a sharpened-edge metal object was found inside an inmate’s cell in the Platte County Detention Center.
William Arthur Willard, 38, of Platte City, was charged Friday with concealing a prohibited article in a county jail.
According to court documents, Willard was in custody for alleged domestic assault in the fourth degree. A deputy discovered the sharpened metal object while conducting a “scheduled shakedown on E Tank,” court documents allege.
The shank, which is slang for a knife by jail inmates, was six inches long at one end and had a cloth handle at the other. Willard had pushed the weapon into a “rail on the bottom bunk,” where he slept, according to the allegations.
When the deputy separated Willard and his cellmate for questioning, Willard admitted that everything in the cell was his and his alone, authorities say.
Willard did not say whether the sharpened-edge metal object was for protection, violence or an item to barter.
His bail on the charge was set at $10,000.