Alabama: State Department of Corrections (DOC) guard Arianna Kimberly Slater faces life in prison after she was arrested while attempting to smuggle contraband into Ventress Correctional Facility on February 24, 2025. According to the Birmingham News, a routine employee screening of Slater’s food container found unspecified contraband that triggered a K-9 search of her vehicle. There guards found 45.5 grams of fentanyl, 13 grams of marijuana, cellphones and charging devices. Slater was arrested and booked into Barbour County Jail on a $500,000 bond and charged with trafficking fentanyl, promoting prison contraband and possessing marijuana. Under Alabama law, fentanyl trafficking over eight grams carries a mandatory life sentence and a minimum fine of $750,000. Less than a week earlier, on February 16, 2025, a trespasser on the grounds of the same lockup was found with 31 cellphones, 13 knives, methamphetamine and marijuana. For that, Travis Reese was also booked into the Barbour County Jail and charged with promoting prison contraband, trespassing and trafficking. It was unclear if he was collaborating with Slater. At the jail, he joined Kevin Harris, who was also arrested on the same charges earlier in the day when he was found trespassing on the grounds of Easterling Correctional Facility with five cellphones, marijuana and methamphetamine.

Alabama: An additional 51 months was added to the sentence of federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) prisoner Christopher McCallum, 32, on February 5, 2025, for assaulting a guard at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Talladega a year earlier. WBRC in Birminghamreported thatMcCallum became disruptive and turned violent in late February 2024, striking the unnamed guard in the head and torso and leaving her with multiple injuries. He pleaded guilty to assault on an officer in September 2024. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama added the time to an eight-year term it handed down in November 2020 for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, with an additional two-year consecutive term for a related violation of supervision in another firearm case. See: United States v. McCallum, USDC (N.D. Ala.), Case No. 1:24-cr-00187. A rapper from Ocala, Florida, McCallum was serving time for an April 2019 Facebook post with rap lyrics threatening a mass shooting at a University of Florida football game. Though he never attempted to make good on it, he was prosecuted for making a “true threat,” which the Supreme Court of the U.S. (SCOTUS) defined as one showing conscious disregard “of a substantial risk that his communications would be viewed as threatening violence.” See: Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U.S. 66 (2023).

Arkansas: A participant in the Jefferson County “Clean Team” program—which allows certain arrestees to work at the W.C. “Dub” Brassel Adult Detention Center in Pine Bluff in lieu of detention—was headed back to a cell, after an unnamed guard supervisor smelled marijuana smoke on her when she reported to work on February 16, 2025. KTHV in Pine Bluff reported that Tamara Haltiwanger, 20, was searched and found with tobacco and 3.2 ounces of suspected marijuana. She was booked on charges of furnishing prohibited articles and possession with intent to deliver a Schedule VI controlled substance. Sheriff Lafayette Woods, Jr. did not mention her original crime, nor to whom she planned to deliver the contraband.

California: KFMB in San Diego reported that Lucresia Stone-Rojas, 46, was given an 86-month federal prison term on February 14, 2025, for attempting to smuggle 23 grams of heroin—concealed in the spines of Bibles—into two state prisons. The federal court for the Southern District of California handed down the sentence after Stone-Rojas pleaded guilty to heroin distribution and illegal firearm possession, the latter charge picked up when El Cajon Police stopped her while driving a stolen Porsche in November 2023 and found a loaded 9mm firearm and ammunition in the vehicle. In addition to her prison term, she was ordered to serve five years of supervised release and pay a $200 special assessment. See: United States v. Stone-Rojas, USDC (S.D. Cal.), Case No. 3:23-cr-02622.

California: State prisoner Nelson Barrera, who is serving a life sentence for murder at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Center (RJDCC) in San Diego, faces attempted homicide charges after allegedly stabbing a guard with a shank on February 9, 2025. Barrera was housed in a general population unit at the time, the San Diego Times reported. The guard, who was later medically cleared, called for assistance from fellow guards. But Barrera resisted them, injuring his hand when he punched a security window. He eventually surrendered his weapon and was treated by medical staff before being transferred to another prison. Barrera arrived at RJDCC in 2011 from San Francisco County, where he was originally sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for second-degree murder and firearm-related offenses. RJDCC houses prisoners of various security levels with mental health needs and developmental disabilities.

California: On February 25, 2025, Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced indictments against County jail guard Michael Meiser and 17 others allegedly involved in a smuggling operation run by the Mexican Mafia. The Downey Patriot reported that an investigation by the County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI uncovered a conspiracy involving detainees and accomplices in and outside the jail—including Meiser, 39, who was part of a task force focused on suppressing drugs and gang activity at the time. He faces multiple felony charges for allegedly furnishing controlled substances to detainees and prisoners at the North County Correctional Facility. He was arrested on April 30, 2024, and released without bond the following day. The indictment dated the heroin trafficking conspiracy back to early 2022, accusing Meiser of furnishing and attempting to furnish contraband, conspiracy and gang participation. Surveillance video reportedly captured him receiving a pound of heroin at a gas station and then smuggling it into the jail, exchanging the packages with detainees.

Georgia: On January 28, 2025, former Fulton County Jail guard Jadon Young received a 40-year state prison term for smuggling drugs into the lockup. Young was convicted of 10 criminal counts, including drug possession and violating her oath. WSB in Atlanta reported that bodycam footage captured her incoherent while manning a jail control tower. That prompted a search of her bag in which fellow guards discovered a “drug store” of contraband, including marijuana, oxycodone and other pills. Sheriff Pat Labat placed a poster at the jail entrance with a picture of Young and her sentence to dissuade other guards tempted to smuggle. District Attorney Fani Willis also hoped the sentence would stem guard smuggling. Young, who represented herself at trial, apparently erupted in several courtroom outbursts, for which she got an additional 40 days.

Georgia: WGXA in Macon reported that former DOC prisoner Jeremiah Shad Garnto, 35, and girlfriend Charlie Gail Hillis, 30, faced drug trafficking and firearm charges after tipped-off authorities disrupted their drone-based prison contraband operation on February 6, 2025. That’s when a search of Garnto’s residence turned up 1.5 pounds of suspected methamphetamine, a stolen firearm and a drone, Johnson County Sheriff Greg Rowland said. The state DOC reported receiving unspecified “intel” that someone was utilizing drones for prison drops. The search was then initiated almost immediately, since Garnto had a Fourth Amendment waiver that accompanied an earlier sentence he received. Hillis was arrested at the scene, while Garnto surrendered later. Additional charges are pending against the couple.

Georgia: On February 10, 2025, former Hays County Correctional Center jailer Nicholas Grindle received an 87-month federal prison sentence for bribery and conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute it at the jail. WDEF in Chattanooga, Tennessee, reported that Grindle, 32, admitted to smuggling drugs and contraband into the lockup, accepting bribes in exchange from prisoners and detainees. During sentencing, Grindle asked for leniency, pointing to his combat heroism while deployed in the military in Afghanistan. But details of that claim proved to be a lie, which added to the severity of his other offenses, said Judge William M. Ray II of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The investigation revealing Grindle’s month-long operation was conducted by the DEA, the state DOC and a local task force. In addition to his sentence, Grindle was ordered to serve three years of supervised release. See: United States v. Grindle, USDC (N.D. Ga.), Case No. 4:24-cr-00015.

Illinois: Former BOP guard Brittany Hall, 31, was indicted on March 6, 2025, on charges that she sexually abused four prisoners at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Chicago. Local station WBBM reported that Hall was assigned to the women’s unit on the 12th floor of the lockup in December 2023, when the unidentified victims were allegedly abused. Two were awaiting trial while another two were serving sentences. Hall resigned in 2024. She was charged with three counts of abusive sexual contact and five counts of sexual abuse of a ward; she faces up to 15 years per charge in federal prison. See: United States v. Hall, USDC (N.D. Ill.), Case No. 1:25-cr-00119.

Indiana: Under a plea deal, former Jay County Jail guard William Brandon Bentz, 36, was sentenced to zero time behind bars for three counts of sexual misconduct on March 13, 2025, the Portland Commercial Review reported. He avoided prison, even though Level 6 felony convictions were handed down for illicit sex that he had with a detainee between March and April 2024. A Level 5 felony charge was dismissed as part of the deal. The victim, “J.G.,” reported that Bentz made frequent cell visits, coercing her into exposing herself and letting him fondle her breasts and vagina, before he eventually took her to an exam room where she performed oral sex on him. Other detainees confirmed the sexual favors and said that Bentz traded tobacco for them. Surveillance video showed “excessive” interaction between Bentz and “J.G.,” but he initially denied the allegations. He had been free on a $10,000 bond since he was fired and arrested in May 2024. Bentz will serve two years of probation after one year of house arrest. That’s bound to be tense, since his wife worked at the jail, too. Sheriff Ray Newton emphasized his “zero tolerance” for sexual misconduct, but Bentz was the second jailer convicted in a year. Former guard John Richard Norris, 33, received the same sentence for the same crime on August 15, 2024, after confessing to having detainee “K.B.” perform oral sex on him while he made cellmate Paige Curtis watch. Norris’ wife also attended sentencing, telling Jay County Circuit Court Judge Brian Hutchison that Norris “wants to be the man I deserve, the man he was not being in our marriage.”

Michigan: Already serving up to 40 years in the state DOC for a December 2023 suicide attempt—which prosecutors convinced a jury had been staged to lure responding Saginaw County Sheriff’s deputies into a death trap—prisoner Eugene Medlin, 50, was sentenced to an additional 43 months to 10 years on February 13, 2025, for throwing feces on a guard at the County lockup. At the time, he was awaiting transfer to a state prison, the Midland Daily News said. Medlin had been jailed since throwing items at a school bus and then fleeing to a garage, dousing it with flammable liquids and waiting with a lighter for deputies to catch up to him. When they did, it took all their beanbag rounds to subdue him. He offered no explanation for his actions before Midland County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Carras imposed the sentence.

Michigan: Following an incident in the visitation room at Chippewa Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula, Michigan State Police and state DOC agents arrested Frances Ramirez-Huerta, 41, on January 24, 2025, WLUC in Negaunee reported. She faced multiple felony charges after DOC staff reviewing surveillance video saw her concealing items in the waistband of her slacks. Searching the unnamed prisoner she was visiting, staff recovered 140 suboxone strips, seven grams of marijuana and two SIM cards. Ramirez-Huerta was booked into the Chippewa County Jail on a $1,000 bond and charged with drug delivery, maintaining a drug house and furnishing contraband, including cellphones, to a prisoner.

Minnesota: Kendra Faye Dunblazier, 30, a former guard at the Anoka County Jail work release center, was charged with criminal sexual conduct on February 10, 2025, for allegedly having sex with an unnamed prisoner while he was on work release. KSTP in St. Paul reported that Dunblazier’s husband triggered an investigation when he discovered text messages that she exchanged with the unnamed prisoner. The husband contacted Anoka County Sheriff Brad Wise, who then asked Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott to take over, to avoid conflict of interest. The subsequent investigation revealed ongoing contact between the prisoner and the guard, including graphic messages, photos and 283 calls to him at the jail; he also apparently spent time with Dunblazier’s children. She initially denied the relationship but later admitted to sexual encounters and was put on leave. She resigned in October 2024. She was charged with third and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, facing up to 25 years in prison on each count.

Minnesota: The Rochester Post Bulletin reported that former Olmsted County Jail guard Matthew Adamson, 46, pleaded guilty to four counts of interference with privacy on February 18, 2025, when he admitted to taking photos of nude prisoners in changing areas. Adamson is already serving a federal prison sentence of 19-and-a-half years for a child pornography conviction. He then received an additional one-year sentence in state prison for misconduct charges brought against him for perverting the use of County surveillance technology. The plea deal dismissed other charges, including misconduct and child solicitation. The investigation began in December 2023 after Adamson’s arrest for soliciting a minor. His wife alerted police that he attempted to destroy hard drives, which contained jail surveillance screenshots and “hundreds” of voyeuristic images dating back to 2015.

Montana: In an eyebrow-raising decision, state District Court Judge Jeffrey Dahood handed former Montana State Prison guard Thomas Blomquist a deferred sentence after he pleaded guilty to felony mistreatment of a prisoner in mid-February 2025. KXLF in Butte reported that Blomquist admitted to trapping the prisoner’s arm in a food slot and kicking the door shut on it in March 2024, after the prisoner spit at him and called him a derogatory name. He originally pleaded not guilty but changed his plea in October 2024, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Dec. 2024, p.62.] Dahood called Blomquist’s actions “chilling,” but the sentence he handed down for the felony was just three years, all deferred, plus another six months deferred for misdemeanor official misconduct. That allowed Blomquist to avoid any time in a cell if he stays out of legal trouble until the sentences expire. Blomquist cited a Bible teaching during the sentencing hearing to express his “remorse” over mistreating the prisoner.

New Mexico: Tossing prisoner Desiree Lensegrav’s murder conviction on February 20, 2025, the state Supreme Court blasted the Eighth Judicial District Attorney’s Office for referring to her as a witch during her 2022 trial. As the Santa Fe New Mexican reported, she was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the 2019 murder of Joseph Morgas in Taos. Her husband, Aram Montoya, also pleaded guilty to the killing and was sentenced to life without parole in 2021. Among examples of “outrageous prosecutorial misconduct” cited by the Court: a claim by prosecutor Cosme Ripol that Lensegrav was a “bruja”—the Spanish word for “witch”—who controlled Montoya with her menstrual blood. The Court also prohibited her retrial, saying it would violate double jeopardy protections under the state constitution. See: State v. Lensegrav, 2025 N.M. LEXIS 23.

New York: The New York Daily News reported on March 4, 2025, that federal prosecutors secured contraband-smuggling charges the week before for BOP detainee Angel Villafane, 40, for allegedly accepting 21 ceramic scalpel blades that were handed to him inside a Doritos bag by an unnamed visitor at MDC-Brooklyn in October 2024. Villafane then concealed the blades in his shirt, but they were found during a strip search. In a desperate move, he attempted to swallow them, but guards successfully intervened. The 40-year-old murder-for-hire suspect has been incarcerated since 2021 on federal firearm possession charges stemming from a Bronx shooting by the “Valentine Ave. Crew,” to which he is linked. His smuggling attempt was just the latest security lapse at the lockup, which has been plagued by violent incidents, including multiple fatal stabbings and attacks, despite famous detainees like Sean “Diddy” Combs, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Mar. 2025, p.34.] If convicted, Villafane faces up to five years on the contraband charge and life in prison for his alleged role in the shooting.

New York: Former Sing Sing Correctional Facility guard Jose Estevez-Luciano, 35, received a one-to-three-year prison sentence on February 13, 2025, for smuggling cellphones to prisoners. The Westchester Journal News reported that Estevez-Luciano pleaded guilty in November 2024 to conspiracy, bribery, contraband promotion and official misconduct. The scheme spanned from October 2021 to August 2023, during which he and co-conspirator Francis De La Cruz, 25, moved contraband in exchange for payments from prisoners’ associates. Texts that the pair exchanged revealed both the scheme and their attempts to hide it—Estevez-Luciano advised De La Cruz to avoid screenshotting their messages. De La Cruz also pled guilty.

New York: Rikers Island detainee Robert Ray, 34, was arraigned in Bronx Criminal Court on February 12, 2025, for aggravated assault on guard Shamika Mitchell four days earlier in the mess hall at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center. According to the New York Daily News, Ray initially faced an attempted murder charge for the punch, which the City DOC said was unprovoked; Mitchell’s subsequent fall caused a brain bleed, raising fears of a traumatic brain injury. But it turned out she had a fractured eye socket, and was expected to recover. Ray was being held for another sucker punch that he gave to a subway worker in September 2024. That victim also survived, though with milder injuries than the guard suffered. 

North Dakota: Cass County Jail guard Oliver Quiah faces DUI charges after her arrest by the state Highway Patrol (NDHP) on February 9, 2025. According to KFGO in Fargo, Quiah had been an unlicensed guard at the lockup since November 2022. He was placed on paid leave pending an internal investigation to determine whether there were any policy violations, County Sheriff Jesse Jahner announced. In North Dakota, a DUI is a misdemeanor, carrying potential fines, license suspension and mandatory alcohol evaluation. Higher BAC levels may result in jail time. The NDHP is pursuing its own investigation into the incident.

Ohio: According to Advance Local Media in Cleveland, Austin Siebert, 29, went to elaborate lengths to smuggle synthetic marijuana into Ohio prisons. Using the so-called “Amazon Technique,” he ordered books online, canceled and returned the orders, then bought separate copies and sprayed drugs on the pages before shipping them to the jail with the original labels—making the packages appear to come directly from the retailer. His recipient and accomplice was an unnamed state prisoner at Grafton Correctional Institution. Siebert sent him a drug-soaked copy of Hillbilly Elegy by Vice-Pres. JD Vance (R). That was seized in December 2024, along with a copy of the GRE Handbook, when a K-9 alerted guards whose suspicions had been raised by the prisoner’s monitored conversations with Siebert. Another book seized later in the month was addressed to a second prisoner, also unnamed. All the volumes tested positive for synthetic cannabinoids. The scheme was thwarted before Siebert could send a third package to another unnamed prisoner acquaintance he recruited at Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution, officials said. A search of Siebert’s Maumee home also turned up a gun, mailing labels and suspected drugs, as well as a wire crimper to rebind the doctored books. He had just been released in November 2024 from an eight-month jail term for shoplifting $1,000 worth of merchandise from a Cleveland-area Lowes Home Improvement store.

Ohio: On February 13, 2025, former Hamilton County Justice Center guard Quincy Scott received a nine-month prison sentence for sexual battery against a detainee, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Scott was found guilty at a December 2024 trial, after the unnamed detainee testified that he ordered her to perform oral sex on him in April that year. Scott denied that, but County Common Pleas Court Judge Jennifer Branch discounted his denial, finding the victim’s testimony more credible. In fact, the testimony was supported by video evidence showing Scott taking her into an off-camera room. In addition to the prison term, he was ordered to spend five years under post-release control and submit to mandatory registration as a Tier 3 sex offender.

Pennsylvania: The New Castle News reported that Lawrence County Jail guard Dillon Mathew Show, 33, was charged with assault on February 12, 2025, for allegedly attacking a newly admitted detainee. The incident occurred 13 days earlier, when the unnamed detainee loudly demanded a blanket. After being briefly restrained by guards, he then began retreating to his bunk. That’s when Show shoved him into a cinder block wall, striking him in the head multiple times before fellow guards intervened. The detainee reportedly suffered no serious injuries. Show was placed on unpaid leave pending a decision on his firing by the County Prison Board.

Pennsylvania: Stephanie Watkins, 49, was charged with assault on February 13, 2025, for an allegedly violent attack on a George W. Hill Correctional Facility guard eight days earlier, the Delco Times reported. While out of cell for recreation and phone use, Watkins allegedly charged at the unnamed guard, swinging fists and grabbing her hair. During the struggle, she bit the guard’s head and upper arm before two other guards subdued her. The victim required medical attention for scalp redness and broken skin on her arm. Watkins had been incarcerated since October 2024 for violating a paroled 2022 sentence for resisting arrest.

Rhode Island: WPRI in Providence reported that Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility detainee Matthew Pizarro, 36, and Massachusetts lawyer Theresa M. DiJoseph, 51, pleaded guilty on March 13, 2025, to conspiracy and drug-related charges for attempting to smuggle Suboxone and marijuana into the lockup. Surveillance video captured a November 2023 meeting outside the jail between DiJoseph and Hanesa Stedford, 21, the girlfriend of another detainee, 26-year-old Samuel Douglas; she handed the lawyer a folder that DiJoseph attempted to bring into the lockup, but guards seized it. The folder later tested positive for K2 synthetic cannabinoids, and one guard sought medical attention for possible exposure to the drug. Prior to that, DiJoseph was barred from the jail for five months in July 2023, after guards discovered inappropriate contact she had with detainee Shawn Hart, 30—exchanging personal photos and conducting gambling transactions—when she was supposedly conducting legal probate work for him. Prosecutors said that they would recommend a reduced sentence for DiJoseph and drop charges for lying to investigators, but she faces up to 50 years in prison. Pizarro admitted to his role in the scheme, which traced back at least to 2021, when he passed off drugs smuggled into the lockup by former guard Kaii Almeida-Falcones; the 31-year-old guard was then convicted and sentenced to six months in federal prison in November 2024, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Jan. 2025, p.62.]

South Carolina: Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center guard Ken Igboka, 41, was arrested on February 12, 2025, for allegedly assaulting a detainee on New Years Day. WLTX in Columbia reported that Igboka attacked the unnamed detainee twice—once in the shower and again in a multi-purpose room, choking him and beating him with a mop stick. The victim, who sustained minor injuries, reported the assault to medical staff. Igboka, however, failed to report the altercation at all, in violation of jail protocols. Following an investigation, Igboka was charged with misconduct in office and second-degree assault and battery. He was booked into the lockup and placed on unpaid leave pending a decision on his termination by Sheriff Leon Lott.

South Dakota: Former state DOC maintenance technician Cassandra Jelsma, 36, received a 90-day prison sentence on February 4, 2025, for sexual contact with an unnamed prisoner at Mike Durfee State Prison, Dakota News Now reported. After investigators from the state Division of Criminal Investigation and the DOC intercepted letters and monitored calls that confirmed the nature of their relationship, Jelsma pleaded guilty to a Class 6 felony. For that she faced a maximum of two years in prison, but got just one-eighth that much time; she also received a suspended two-year sentence. Jelsma admitted to having sex with the prisoner between November 2022 and June 2023, when she mentored him as she worked on surveillance cameras and security systems at the prison. That meant that the DOC paid her to exploit her knowledge to find areas outside camera view where she and the prisoner could be intimate. Jelsma also provided him gifts and food.

Texas: KBMT in Beaumont reported that Larry Gist State Jail guard James Davis Jr., 29, was arrested on February 7, 2025, for allegedly accepting a $1,000 bribe to smuggle tobacco and K2 synthetic cannabinoids into the lockup. Davis is accused of using a food container to attempt to bring the contraband inside. Fellow state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (TDCJ) staffers rejected it for not meeting policy, but their suspicions were raised, leading to a search of Davis’ vehicle that uncovered a stash of contraband—a plastic bag of tobacco and 40 sheets of K2-soaked paper. Davis admitted that he was paid to smuggle the items for a prisoner, who was not identified. The disgraced guard was the second that TDCJ arrested in as many days; Jacolby Shawn Smith-Barber was arrested on February 6, 2024, for allegedly attempting to smuggle contraband into the nearby Stiles Unit. He had been fired after an unrelated October 2024 arrest for theft of services exceeding $2,500, but details were not available.

United Kingdom: Adding to a growing list of naughty British guards, former HMP Five Wells guard Toni Cole, 29, was sentenced to one year in prison on February 13, 2025, for maintaining an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner, the Daily Mail reported. Investigators discovered that between December 2022 and January 2023, Cole exchanged 4,369 flirtatious messages and had 18 video calls with the unnamed prisoner. She also engaged in sexualized behavior, sitting on his lap and kissing him, also warning him of upcoming cell searches. She pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office and was ordered to pay a £187 ($243 USD) surcharge. Cole is the second guard convicted of getting raunchy with a prisoner at the lockup, which is privately operated for the Prison Service by G4S. Former guard Rachel Stanton, 31, got a nine-month sentence in July 2024, which was suspended for 18 months because her youngest child is still an infant. The child was fathered by prisoner Edwin Poole, 31, who was serving a 10-1/2-year sentence for armed robbery at the lockup when he and the mother of five had their assignation in a storeroom. A third unnamed guard was also arrested for having sex with a prisoner, but no other details were shared except that she is 19. GS4’s guard staff at the lockup included a bunch of newbies; only 30% had worked there over two years.

United Kingdom: Up to 390 Scottish prisoners were slated for early release on January 25, 2025, according to BBC News, as Scotland took steps to ease severe prison overcrowding. Under emergency legislation, which was passed after the prison population rose 6% last year, prisoners serving terms under four years for convictions other than sexual or domestic offenses may be freed if they have completed 40% of their sentence. The goal is to reduce the prison population by 5%. Scottish Justice Secretary Angela Constance admitted in a January 2025 press release that early release of convicts could be “distressing” for crime victims, but she promised that the Prison Service plans to enhance community safety with ongoing rehabilitation and support to reduce the risk of released prisoners reoffending.

Virginia: WAVY in Portsmouth reported on January 14, 2025, that a former guard had been arrested for smuggling drugs into Indian Creek Correctional Center in Chesapeake, along with the parents of a prisoner who was held there. After Betty Jo and Michael Hoyer visited their incarcerated son in September 2024, guards found and confiscated $200,000 worth of Buprenorphine and naloxone strips, plus another $10,000 worth of methamphetamine and tobacco. The couple was arrested and charged, along with guard Krystal Shannon Clay, who was fired and arrested for allegedly helping them. The DOC offers long-term treatment of incarcerated substance abusers at the lockup, where Bradley Joseph Hoyer, 26, was then held. He has since been moved, the DOC said.

Washington: For manufacturing and distributing fentanyl pills to Aryan prison gangs, Michael Slocumb, 46, was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison on March 3, 2025, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington. Co-conspirator Michael Warren, 66, was sentenced to 90 months. Federal agents raided Warren’s Shelton home in December 2022, following a two-year investigation that tracked multiple trips Slocumb made between there and Arizona to procure fentanyl and methamphetamine for the operation, using the home as a stash house. Two pill presses were recovered there, along with over 640,000 counterfeit fentanyl pills and a kilogram of fentanyl powder—enough to produce thousands more pills. Also recovered were 23 firearms and $81,000 in cash. Along with ringleader Bryson Gill, the men were among two-dozen co-conspirators arrested in March 2023. Another 177 firearms were seized from 18 locations in Washington and Arizona, where Slocumb had then moved his operation. More than 10 kilograms of methamphetamine and a dozen kilograms of fentanyl pills and powder were additionally seized, along with three kilograms of heroin and $330,000 in cash. Gill pleaded guilty on February 7, 2025. Also convicted were married kingpins Jesse James Bailey, 40, and Candace Bailey, 42, who were a notch above Gill in the operation; all three are scheduled for sentencing in May and June 2025.  

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