Inmates and their accomplices took creative smuggling to new heights (and depths) in 2024, using everything from drones to disguised chip bags to bring banned items behind bars.
These incidents reveal just how far some are willing to go to bypass prison walls. Dive into the most memorable contraband schemes of 2024.
1. 59 weapons, various types of drugs found during contraband sweep at Fla. prison
An unannounced sweep of a Florida prison involving multiple agencies revealed many contraband items, the Florida Department of Corrections said.
The large-scale search at Suwannee Correctional Institution, dubbed “Operation Fall Harvest,” uncovered weapons, cellphones, homemade alcohol and other contraband items.
2. Man tosses backpacks full of drugs, weapons over Ala. prison fence
A corrections officer at Elmore Correctional Facility saw a man throw a backpack over the fence behind one of the prison dorms. A K-9 search found four backpacks filled with drugs, cellphones, weapons, lock-picking and re-keying kits, and assorted tobacco products.
3. Ala. man with meth caught breaking into jail through hole in fence
Kirk Muckenfuss was “caught in the act” of cutting the fence at the Lawrence County Jail. Correction officers were waiting for him and chased him out through the hole before taking him into custody.
4. Wash. inmate tries to smuggle bag of ‘powdery substance’ into 12th-floor cell from outside
A corrections officer returning from an unrelated transport spotted suspicious activity outside the Spokane County Jail — a man in a black hoodie hoisting a bag into a cell window before fleeing the scene.
A small Keefe Coffee bag with a “powdery substance” was found in a pile of trash near the inmate’s cell door.
5. Drug ring operated out of Ohio prisons had elaborate plan to publish ‘drug-soaked’ book
Between September 1, 2022, and March 8, 2023, over a dozen people, including inmates and their families, made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling “faces"— paper squares soaked in methamphetamine or Suboxone, according to the Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office.
During the investigation of the drug ring that was operated out of Ohio prisons, officials uncovered “an elaborate plot to publish and sell an actual novel-style book with its pages soaked with drugs.”
6. Photos: 150 people arrested for using drones to transport contraband into Ga. prisons
The months-long “Operation Skyhawk” investigation, which uncovered that drones were being used to bring contraband into Georgia Department of Corrections facilities, resulted in the seizure of a wide range of substances and 150 arrests.
Substances seized during the operation included 185 pounds of tobacco, 67 pounds of marijuana, 51 pounds of ecstasy, 12 pounds of methamphetamine, 10 grams of cocaine and nearly 100 pills. Authorities also recovered nearly 90 drones, 22 weapons and over 450 cellphones.
7. Former S.C. prison captain accused of money laundering, selling 100+ phones to inmates
A former senior South Carolina prison security officer was federally indicted in April on multiple charges, including smuggling contraband into the prison and selling prohibited items, such as over 170 cellphones, to inmates.
The phones were purchased from Amazon, and the officer arranged payments from inmates using 14 peer-to-peer payment accounts, including the mobile app Cash App, according to the indictment.
8. Contraband bust at D.C. jail nets charges against corrections officer, inmates
A corrections officer and several others, including inmates and outside associates, were charged in connection with a contraband operation at the D.C. Department of Corrections, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Contraband items such as a knife, cellphones and controlled substances were put into Tupperware containers, concealed in plastic wrap in the middle of prepared food, and brought into the Central Detention Facility, also known as the D.C. Jail.
9. S.C. nurse accused of smuggling marijuana stuffed in cracker boxes into detention center
A contracted nurse at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center was arrested after she was caught bringing in marijuana that was stuffed inside cracker boxes through the facility’s front door, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Office.
During a search of the nurse’s vehicle, deputies found additional jail documents, medication originating from the jail, personal journals and notes addressed to inmates.
10. 23 indicted in prison-based Ga. drug ring aided by drones
Federal prosecutors indicted 23 people, primarily current and former inmates, in connection with schemes to use drones to smuggle drugs and cellphones into Georgia state prisons, authorities said.
The indictments released in August revealed that a multiagency investigation, dubbed “Operation Night Drop,” uncovered two interconnected networks involving prison inmates and outside collaborators. These groups allegedly used contraband cellphones to coordinate drone deliveries.
