How did an inmate get a shank inside the Harris Co. jail?

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Weylin Alford, cut a Harris County correctional officer in the face with a shank, injured another deputies hand, and bit of third while they tried to check his cell Monday according to the Sheriff's Office.

Deputy Bob Goerlitz with the Harris County Deputies Association says he should have never had the chance to hurt anyone.

"These inmates are searched at different points throughout the day," Goerlitz says. "But they're very well schooled in how to keep these items from us."

Alford was caught with a shank in court in October, and guards found two more in his cell then too. They also found one in his cell in January. According to numbers obtained through a public information request, there have been 1,193 weapons found in the Harris County Jail from October 2012 to October 2014.

"That doesn't surprise me in the least. I'm surprised there's not more than that. Those are just the numbers we found," Goerlitz tells us.

While the spotlight is on Harris County's jail, others are reminded that danger could rear its head at any moment.

"We try to do as much searching as possible to control those kinds of things," says Lt. Grant Crochet with Fort Bend County jail.

Lt. Crochet says fewer inmates means fewer problems . In his jail, Crochet says they found their first weapon in months in November.

"...a small toothbrush that had been sharpened. It was about two and a half inches long and they'd sharpened it up on the concrete or something."

Back in Harris County, they're weighing options for Alford to ensure he doesn't get his hands on another weapon.

That spokesperson for the sheriffs office says those options could include limiting what he can buy at the commissary. They're also weighing restricting his access to any potential weapon-making items to the hour he's allowed out of his cell for hygeine purposes, and getting those items back from him before he goes back into his cell.