Arrests for methamphetamines were made both on the street and in the prison this week by local police officers.

On Tuesday, Jonathan Parmen, 27, an inmate at Decatur County Correctional Institute, was arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine by an inmate, and Johnnie Combast, 60, was arrested by Bainbridge Public Safety and charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of a schedule 2 controlled substance.

According to Warden Gordon Screen, Parmen was being held in lockdown after refusing to take a drug test.

“We have been watching this inmate and we got info that he was providing meth to other inmates,” Screen said.

While Parmen was in lockdown, another inmate was sent to clean the cell under the supervision of an officer. The officer observed Parmen handing the other inmate a baggie whose contents were later tested and identified as meth.

Parmen has been at Decatur County Correctional Institute since November 2014 while serving three concurrent five-year sentences for forgery, possession of methamphetamine and possession of opioids. He had a parole board hearing tentatively scheduled for October, but Screen said he suspects that will be denied following these new charges.

According to Screen, the main focusing in the effort to curb the possession of drugs within the prison is cutting off their sources on the outside as inmates typically receive the drugs while out on work detail.

“We rely on informants which have been very good lately,” Screen said.

Combast was arrest by BPS after they made contact with him at his apartment at Avenue Apartments following a complaint of suspicious activity. Combast consented to a search of his apartment and BPS officers found a quantity of crystal meth as well as prescription pills incorrectly packaged.

“That apartment complex is in the older, more mature section,” BPS Deputy Director Frank Green said. “Its disturbing that this type of activity is going on in the section where senior adults are living.”