Guards Smuggled Drugs and Razors Into N.Y.C. Jails, Prosecutors Say
The correction officers are accused of taking thousands of dollars in bribes to sneak contraband into the city’s jails.
Prosecutors said one officer took more than $6,000 to covertly bring scalpels, cellphones and smokable K2 synthetic marijuana into the Manhattan Detention Complex, a facility known colloquially as the Tombs.
They said a counselor was accused of accepting over $40,000 in bribes to smuggle K2 and other contraband into the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island.
The nine defendants, current and former employees of the department, have been arrested and were expected to be presented before federal magistrate judges in New York and elsewhere, the government said.
Margaret Garnett, the commissioner of the city’s investigations department, said the crimes reflected the “pernicious and damaging impact of corruption.”
“Correction officers and staff should protect the integrity of the jails, not promote lawlessness and violence,” Ms. Garnett said.