Скачать или смотреть Contraband & Corruption: How Drugs Enter US Prisons

Contraband drug flow into U.S. prisons is rarely a “mystery package over the fence” problem—it’s a corruption and access problem. Federal oversight reviews have repeatedly found that weak staff-search practices, blind spots in security systems, and inconsistent contraband tracking create openings that motivated insiders can exploit, making enforcement reactive instead of preventative.

Real cases show how often the pipeline starts with someone who already has a badge or trusted entry. In Oregon, a former federal correctional officer was sentenced in March 2024 for taking bribes and smuggling drugs, a cellphone, and other contraband into FCI Sheridan for select inmates. In Massachusetts, prosecutors described a separate case where a corrections officer attempted to bring narcotics and other prohibited items into a county jail for an inmate who intended to distribute inside—illustrating how contraband phones and staff access can turn a locked facility into an extension of outside trafficking networks.

Beyond staff corruption, prisons also face evolving delivery methods and organized schemes. After a deadly 2018 disturbance at South Carolina’s Lee Correctional Institution, a federal grand jury indicted former corrections employees and other workers accused of taking bribes to smuggle drugs and cellphones into multiple state prisons—an example of how contraband economies can scale across facilities. And while “inside jobs” remain a major driver, corrections agencies increasingly warn about drones as a growing external delivery threat, with NIJ noting that no single detection method is enough and that legal/technical constraints complicate countermeasures.