staff and other workers continue
June 2018 Edition
to risk their own livelihoods to
be the conduit in passing disal-
lowed items, especially drugs,
drug paraphernalia, cell phones,
and small weapons.
Volume 24
Drones Deliver Smuggled Phones to Inmates
A featured article in the November/ December
2016 issue of Corrections Today delves into the
details of different drone technologies and the
technological capabilities at play in presenting a
dynamic threat requiring unique detection solu-
tions.
To date, incidents involving contraband be-
ing delivered by drone have been report-
ed in California, Maryland, Georgia, Ohio,
South Carolina and Oklahoma.
Outside of the US,
incidents have been
reported in Canada,
Mexico, Ireland, Aus-
tralia and the United
Kingdom. In addition
to drones, contraband
continues to enter the
inmate population in
several different ways.
Conventionally, vis-
itors,
correctional
officers, commissary
In more unique circumstances,
drugs have been reduced into
pastes, liquids, or powders that
are concealed on envelopes, kid’s
drawings, and photographs that al-
low the drugs to be ingested by licking the papers.
Just as confounding, drugs and cell
phones are routinely stuffed in footballs
and soccer balls to be dumped over the
yard wall where inmates can retrieve the
goods.
In Phillips State Prison in Buford, GA,
a dead cat was stuffed with eight cell
phones and thrown over the prison
Police handout photo of confiscated contraband.
25