NORTHAMPTON — Hampshire County Jail officials allege that an inmate sold and used narcotics while incarcerated after he allegedly smuggled cocaine and Suboxone strips into the facility.

Eric Kelly-Combs, 25, of Haydenville, pleaded not guilty in Northampton District Court on Thursday to disturbing a correctional institution and possessing cocaine and Suboxone, according to court records.

Police said the incident involving Kelly-Combs occurred Feb. 19, and was the second time in two weeks in which an inmate allegedly smuggled drugs into the jail.

Kelly-Combs was originally jailed without bail after he was pulled over Feb. 14. During the traffic stop, Northampton police said they uncovered stolen firearms and heroin worth about $20,000 after a vehicle in which he was a passenger was pulled over on Conz Street.

On Feb. 19, a confidential informant at the jail told a staffer that Kelly-Combs snuck drugs into the facility from when he was in court, according to a report by the Hampshire sheriff’s office, and that Kelly-Combs was selling the drugs to other inmates in the gym and dining hall areas.

Staff ordered a strip-search of Kelly-Combs. As he removed his clothing, he reached into his sock and removed a small, blue item and shoved it in his mouth, according to the sheriff’s report.

Officials were able to force the object — later determined to be the finger of a latex glove — out of his mouth. That allegedly contained coffee creamer packets. And inside those packets were a baggie of cocaine and about four strips of Suboxone, according to the sheriff’s report.

Kelly-Combs was also required to take a drug test, according to the sheriff’s report. The results showed that his urine tested positive for both cocaine and Suboxone. Three other inmates, who were not named in the report, also tested positive for Suboxone and cannabinoids.

Ten days earlier, another inmate, Travis M. Mitchell, 38, was accused of sneaking drugs into the jail by inserting a pill bottle in his rectum, according to court records. it was not noticed when Mitchell was strip-searched when he entered the jail.

“We continue to be diligent in our searches,” Patrick Cahillane, deputy superintendent for Hampshire County Jail and House of Correction, said Thursday. “But what ends up happening is … individuals who have an opportunity that know they’re going into the facility will go through extra risks to bring drugs with them.”

Cahillane said the nearly two months between the incident involving Kelly-Combs and his arraignment resulted from the internal investigation. 

Cahillane insisted that breaches do not happen frequently, although “the facility is not immune,” he said.

Michael Majchrowicz can be reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.