Arant

*296 Opinion

Defendant was convicted on his plea of nolo contendere to violation of Penal Code section 4573.6, possession of drug paraphernalia by a state prison inmate. The underlying facts are not in dispute: defendant was searched when he was transferred into the California Correctional Institution at Tehachapi from Folsom State Prison, and incident to the search defendant was X-rayed. The X-ray revealed a foreign object secreted in defendant’s rectum which was found to consist of an altered hypodermic syringe in a plastic tubular container. Consistent with his plea bargain, defendant was sentenced to the lower term of 16 months, and the trial court ordered this term to run fully consecutive to the sentence defendant was serving at the time he committed the offense, Defendant appeals, contending the trial court erred in believing it lacked discretion to order the new sentence be served concurrent with the term for which he was then incarcerated.

In advancing this argument, defendant candidly acknowledges that acceptance of his position would require this court to disapprove its holding in People v. Lamont (1986) 177 Cal.App.3d 577, 584 [ 223 Cal.Rptr. 52 ], i.e., “[Penal…