We all know the old tale about smuggling a sharp file within a cake into a prison to help inmates escape, but drug smuggling seems to be the more common material that gets snuck into prisons.
On August 20, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that three people are being charged in connection with the death of a prison worker after they allegedly mailed a package of narcotics. This occurred in the U.S. Penitentiary Atwater in California.
Prison officer Marc Fisher opened the package on August 9, and it was labeled as regular legal mail. After opening it, Fisher began to complain of feeling sick after handling the contents, which were described as being smeared on sticky, wet paper. Later tests revealed the paper was impregnated with a variety of drugs including fentanyl, amphetamines, and synthetic cannabis, among others.
Fisher was taken to a local hospital and died shortly after arrival. An additional prison officer handled the package and took sick, but eventually recovered.
It is not yet clear exactly what may have killed Fisher, but fentanyl is known to be especially dangerous and easy to overdose on. It is a synthetic form of the painkiller morphine, but is 50 to 100 times as potent by weight. Fentanyl overdoses have overtaken every other drug in the U.S. for lethal overdoses. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), fentanyl is cheap and is often mixed in with other illicit street drugs.
The three people arrested for sending the package are Stephanie Ferreira, 35, of Indiana; Jermen Rudd II, 37, of Missouri, and inmate Jamar Jones, 35. They’ve been charged with conspiracy to smuggle narcotics into the Atwater penitentiary.
Prosecutors say Jones and Ferreira convinced Rudd to mail the drug-laced package in late July and early August, and to make sure it was falsely labeled as legal mail. All three were arrested on August 20.
It is not yet clear whether additional charges will be filed against the trio, but it would not be surprising to see manslaughter charges added.
