BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A former Georgia correctional officer will spend years in federal prison after admitting she took more than $80,000 in bribes to smuggle contraband into a federal prison.
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Ashley Brown, 37, of Hinesville, was sentenced to four years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
According to court documents and testimony, Brown worked as a correctional officer and later as a material handler supervisor at Federal Correctional Institution-Jesup from May through September 2022.
Investigators began looking into Brown after receiving a report that inmates were sending her money.
Prosecutors say inmates used Cash App to pay Brown in exchange for smuggling contraband into the prison, including methamphetamine, cell phones, K2 and marijuana.
Brown then provided the contraband to other people involved in the scheme, who distributed it to inmates through the prison’s commissary system, according to investigators.
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Brown pleaded guilty to 24 counts of accepting a bribe as a public official and 16 counts of money laundering.
Two other people connected to the scheme were also sentenced.
Adrian Sims, 53, an inmate at FCI-Jesup, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing contraband in prison.
Navarus Bryant, 48, also an inmate at FCI-Jesup, was sentenced to 57 months in prison after pleading guilty to 24 counts of paying a bribe to a public official and 24 counts of money laundering.
There is no parole in the federal prison system.
“Public officials within a prison are entrusted with maintaining the safety and integrity of our penal institutions, and those who trade that public trust for personal profit compromise the security of everyone inside,” said U.S. Attorney Meg Heap.
The DOJ Office of the Inspector General said bringing drugs and cell phones into a prison puts the entire facility at risk.
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