SC corrections employees charged in contraband ring

By Meg Kinnard

More than a dozen South Carolina corrections employees are facing federal charges related to bribery and bringing contraband into the state's institutions a week after a deadly prison riot, according to federal court documents obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The indictments against 14 corrections employees, including at least 11 officers, include charges of racketeering, bribery and wire fraud, and in some cases are connected to actions that allegedly took place as long as three years ago. The indictments don't detail how much the employees are accused of accepting in exchange for smuggling drugs, cellphones and phone accessories into state prisons.

The defendants were expected to appear in court later Wednesday.

The indictments were unsealed a little more than a week after a deadly riot at Lee Correctional Institution left seven inmates dead — and just one day after the AP quoted several people connected to correctional institutions as saying that cellphones, drugs and other contraband were flowing into prisons around the state while officers turned a blind eye, or helped to smuggle them.