NATCHEZ — The city jail was evacuated Saturday after an inmate started a fire in her cell using a lighter she had apparently smuggled into the jail in her vagina.

Tiffany L. Davis, 20, 14 Rice Road, was charged with arson after lighting a mattress on fire, Natchez Police Department Chief Mike Mullins said.

Capt. Scott Frye said jailers put the fire out with a fire extinguisher, but the police department was evacuated because there was heavy smoke in the building.

Frye said the inmates were taken to the yard outside the jail during the evacuation, and male and female inmates were separated until the Natchez Fire Department determined the building was safe to re-enter.

Frye said the NFD brought fans to clear the smoke from the building. A mattress, towels and a bed sheet were damaged in the fire.

Mullins said once Davis was returned to her cell, she complained she was bleeding. He said Davis was taken to Natchez Regional Medical Center, where hospital staff members discovered Davis had the lighter in her vagina.

Frye said arrestees are searched when they are brought to the jail, but Davis somehow still managed to smuggle the lighter into the cell where she was being held alone.

Davis was originally arrested on Sept. 28 for five bench warrants for failure to pay fines, bond-jumping, shoplifting and resisting arrest. Mullins said Davis has no bond until arraignment.