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Federal agents have
indicted 49 Georgia prison guards and officers on charges of drug trafficking
and accepting bribes. The arrests were part of a two-year undercover operation
to crack down on contraband and criminal activity in the state’s prisons.
RT
report continues:
“[These]
indictments against 49 individuals revealing staggering corruption within the
Georgia Department of Corrections,” said John Horn, the United States Attorney
for the Northern District of Georgia.
The
allegations led to arrests across the state on Thursday after raids at nine
prison facilities, CNN reported. The operation found criminal and corrupt
activities in just under a third of the state’s prisons.
As
a result of its probe, the FBI accused 45 former and current prison guards and
staff of allegedly smuggling contraband such as liquor, tobacco, and cell
phones into cell blocks for money. Inmates used the illegal cell phones to
commit wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft. Guards also allegedly
wore their official uniforms or displayed their badges to help traffic multiple
kilograms of cocaine and meth in exchange for thousands of dollars in bribe
money.
The
FBI said the corrupt guards typically earned US$500 to US$1,000 for smuggling a
single cell phone to a prisoner.
“Between
2014 and 2015, more than 23,500 contraband phones were seized throughout
Georgia prisons – which house 50,000 inmates – and those phones were used for a
variety of crimes that put prison security and public safety at risk,” the FBI
said in a statement.
The
average salary of a Georgia correctional officer is between US$37,000 and US$46,000,
below the national average, according to Salary.com.
The
FBI said prison inmates in Georgia were able to raise money through so-called “jury
scams” and then bribe prison guards. The scams involved an inmate calling a
potential victim and impersonating a law enforcement officer, claiming the
victim had failed to appear for jury duty. They were then told they had the
choice of being arrested on warrants or paying fines to have the warrants
dismissed.
Many
victims agreed to pay the fines. In order to do this, they were instructed to
purchase pre-paid cash cards and provide the account number to the inmate or
wire money directly into a pre-paid debit card account held by the inmate, the
FBI said. The inmate used an outside accomplice to transfer the money to a
different pre-paid card, which could then be turned into cash. “That
effectively laundered the money,” the FBI stated. The cash was then transferred
back to the inmate.
Among
those arrested were five members of an elite squad aimed at busting up drug
dealing in prison, called the Cobra unit. Two civilians and one inmate were
also included in the indictments.
The
FBI’s crackdown – called Operation Ghost Guard – was launched in May of 2014
after a North Carolina prisoner was able to organize a kidnapping using a
contraband cell phone. The prisoner, who was serving a life sentence in North
Carolina, wanted revenge on the prosecutor who had helped convict him. Using
the phone, the prisoner enlisted the help of fellow gang members to kidnap the
prosecutor’s father and drive him to Atlanta, where he was to be tortured and
killed. The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team was able to reach him before he was
murdered. The incident prompted the FBI Public Corruption Unit in Washington,
DC to launch the nationwide Prison Corruption Initiative.
“When
an inmate can reach beyond prison walls and threaten and intimidate witnesses
and prosecutors, it’s a breakdown of the judicial system,” said FBI Atlanta
Special Agent in Charge Britt Johnson to CNN.
The
number of public corruption cases in prisons nationwide has tripled since the
initiative was launched.
“Corrections officers might
not be elected officials,” said Special Agent Joe Gonzalez, who heads the FBI’s
Public Corruption Unit in Washington, DC, “but they are public officials sworn
to protect the community, and we are going to hold them to that standard.”
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