LISBON ­– Matthew Young was already sentenced to a lengthy prison term, but on Tuesday he was sentenced to an additional two to three years behind bars for the broom handle bent in a way that made it a weapon at the county jail. Young, 26, formerly of East Liverpool, pleaded guilty last week to possession of a deadly weapon while under detention, a second-degree felony, for the metal broom handle bent into a point on May 15, 2021.

During sentencing, defense attorney James Wise pointed out the broom handle was never used as a weapon. Instead, Wise said Young was using it as a way to pop the lock on doors at the jail, giving him additional access to the entire pod.

Judge Megan Bickerton pointed out that while Wise was saying Young had no intention of using it as a weapon or to harm anyone, no one else knew that.

“You had it,” Bickerton said. “You knew you shouldn’t have it…Everyone at that jail needs to be safe and when you are popping doors, everyone is not going to be safe.”

Additionally, Wise said the charge for the broom handle was only a second-degree felony because of the high level of charges Young was in the jail for at the time. It was only days before he was being sentenced for a list of drug-related charges, including two counts that were first-degree felonies. If he had been there on misdemeanor charges, Wise noted the charge related to the broom handle likewise would have been a misdemeanor.

He was sentenced last May, only a week after the broom handle was discovered, to between seven and 10 and a half years in prison for trafficking in cocaine, aggravated trafficking in drugs, possession of cocaine, possession of drugs, and three counts of aggravated possession of drugs. In another case he was sentenced to an additional nine months in prison for possession of cocaine, trafficking in cocaine and aggravated possession of drugs.

The weapons while incarcerated charge carried a possible sentence of two years or up to 12 years and the time could have run concurrently, at the same time. Bickerton sentenced Young to two years, up to three years, but consecutive to his other sentences.