LITTLE ROCK — A former Pulaski County jailer faces nearly a dozen felony charges after investigators found she was providing inmates at the facility with marijuana, hydrocodone, methamphetamine and tobacco.

Whitney Jackson, 23, of 20427 Colonel Glenn Road was arrested Thursday afternoon and charged with 10 counts of furnishing prohibited articles and a single count of criminal attempt to furnish prohibited articles, an arrest report states.

Jackson resigned from her position the same day, said sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Carl Minden.

After waiving her rights to remain silent and have an attorney present, Jackson admitted to taking marijuana, hydrocodone and tobacco to inmates at the jail, the arrest report states.

She was held at the jail Friday afternoon in lieu of $55,000 bond.

Investigators received a tip Wednesday that Jackson was providing “contraband” to inmates at the jail’s satellite center, according to an arrest affidavit. The center is a warehouse-style facility south of the main building where many trusties and low-level offenders are housed.

The contraband cited in the affidavit included marijuana, methamphetamine and tobacco.

The affidavit states Jackson approached an inmate and asked him to help take contraband into the jail after he was released. Jackson gave the inmate her cell phone number, which matched a contact number she provided to her supervisors at the jail.

Investigators then reviewed “monitored telephone calls from within the Pulaski County [jail]” and found that on Sept. 30, two calls were made “to a white female asking how many deputies were working at the [satellite center],” the affidavit states.

The female is heard stating that she “obtained tobacco and was attempting to obtain ‘the other,’” according to reports.

The phone number used to receive the calls matched Jackson’s number, the affidavit states.

Additional information about the case was not available Friday.

Jackson was hired in June 2011 and was most recently assigned to the jail’s satellite center, working a shift from 3 to 11 p.m.

Minden said the facility, which is not outfitted with cells, houses 166 inmates who sleep on bunk beds. The center has a capacity of 250 inmates.

Jailers at the facility, as well as the main building, are subject to “random pocket searches” on each shift, Minden said.

Jailers working in the main building are also scanned with a hand-held “wand,” he said.

While jailers are allowed to take breaks and smoke cigarettes on their breaks, they must leave their cigarettes in their bags or in their vehicles, Minden said.

Arkansas, Pages 9 on 10/13/2012