The FBI arrested 46 current and former correction officers from nine different prison facilities across the state of Georgia. Among those arrested, five were members of an elite squad intended at busting up drug dealing in prison, called the Cobra unit. The U.S. States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia stated, “There was staggering corruption within the Georgia Department of Corrections”. Everything from tobacco, liquor, drugs, and cellphones was being smuggled into the cell blocks in exchange for money by the very people meant to enforce the rules and regulations, correctional officers. The phones that were smuggled in were used to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft. Under the Official Code of Georgia section 42-5-18, it is unlawful to give an incarcerated GA Department of Corrections, DOC, inmate a cell phone and it is unlawful for a GA DOC inmate to possess a cell phone while incarcerated. Nonetheless, GA DOC was able to seize more than more than 23,500 cell phones from across GA state prisons between the years 2014 and 2015. An Atlanta FBI Special agent Britt Johnson stated, “Contraband cell phones in prison are a tremendous problem”. Agent Johnson was referring to how a North Carolina inmate was able to setup a 2014 hostage taking in Atlanta from inside his cell (P. Brown). According to U.S. Attorney John Horn, “The unfortunate common denominator to this criminal conduct is the pervasive availability of contraband cell phones, which allows too many prison inmates to continue victimizing our communities while serving their
The FBI arrested 46 current and former correction officers from nine different prison facilities across the state of Georgia. Among those arrested, five were members of an elite squad intended at busting up drug dealing in prison, called the Cobra unit. The U.S. States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia stated, “There was staggering corruption within the Georgia Department of Corrections”. Everything from tobacco, liquor, drugs, and cellphones was being smuggled into the cell blocks in exchange for money by the very people meant to enforce the rules and regulations, correctional officers. The phones that were smuggled in were used to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft. Under the Official Code of Georgia section 42-5-18, it is unlawful to give an incarcerated GA Department of Corrections, DOC, inmate a cell phone and it is unlawful for a GA DOC inmate to possess a cell phone while incarcerated. Nonetheless, GA DOC was able to seize more than more than 23,500 cell phones from across GA state prisons between the years 2014 and 2015. An Atlanta FBI Special agent Britt Johnson stated, “Contraband cell phones in prison are a tremendous problem”. Agent Johnson was referring to how a North Carolina inmate was able to setup a 2014 hostage taking in Atlanta from inside his cell (P. Brown). According to U.S. Attorney John Horn, “The unfortunate common denominator to this criminal conduct is the pervasive availability of contraband cell phones, which allows too many prison inmates to continue victimizing our communities while serving their