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Belcourt man sentenced for peeing in prison food tray

A 26-year-old Belcourt man will serve about 18 months in prison for urinating in his meal tray at the Ward County Jail and then giving the covered tray to a jail employee.

Adam J. Swain pleaded guilty on Nov. 18 to contact by bodily fluids, a Class C felony. Judge Doug Mattson sentenced him to a total of three years in prison, with a requirement that he serve 18 months, and two years of supervised probation. Mattson also ordered Swain to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and chemical dependency evaluation while he is incarcerated. The sentence will be served concurrently with a sentence for aggravated assault-domestic violence.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court, the jail employee, Christi Bragg, went to collect Swain’s meal tray at 6 a.m. on Oct. 17. She decided to take it because Swain was on lock down in his cell. She opened the meal tray slot, took the tray covered with a lid and checked under the lid to see if the eating utensil was still there. When she lifted the lid, the tray was filled with urine that spilled on her clothing. When she went back to confront Swain, he was laughing in his cell. He claimed that the liquid was water.

The state had filed in September to revoke Swain’s probation for his aggravated assault conviction.

– Andrea Johnson

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