Washington County Sheriff’s Office says ‘vigilant deputy’ foils contraband drop

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ga. — The Washington County Sheriff’s Office stopped an attempted contraband drop at the state prison in Davisboro earlier this week, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.

They say it happened Monday night when “a vigilant deputy” noticed some suspicious activity near Washington State Prison. The prison holds medium security prisoners and can house a little over 1,500 inmates.

The sheriff’s office was able to help arrest “several individuals” who were trying to smuggle contraband into the prison, the press release said. 

They did not include the names or the exact number of people arrested. It also did not say exactly what kind of contraband the individuals were accused of attempting to get across the guard line. 

We reached out to the sheriff to hopefully find out more information, but we are waiting to hear back. 

However, attempted contraband drops are part of life for sheriff’s offices that have state prisons within their borders.

Back in August of last year, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office arrested two men from metro Atlanta who they say attempted to smuggle drugs and a gun into the prison. 

Similar to the arrest on Monday, sheriff’s deputies noticed suspicious activity near the prison. 

Then, a few months earlier in June 2023, three other men were arrested for trying to smuggle contraband into the prison. 

In March 2024, the Georgia Department of Corrections and the FBI said an investigation led to over 1,000 charges and the arrest of 150 suspects. According to the release, eight of them were employees of the GDC. 

As of March, their investigation led to the confiscation of 87 drones, 22 weapons, 185 pounds of tobacco, 67 pounds of marijuana along with a slew of other drugs, too. 

While many contraband peddlers attempt to smuggle drugs and guns into state prisons, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr made a plea to the FCC about another popular piece of contraband: cell phones.

In a press release, Carr asked the FCC to allow the state to use jamming devices to interrupt the use of contraband cell phones at state prisons. The attorney general notes that these cell phones are often used to “plan and orchestrate violent attacks and other criminal activity” within the prison’s walls and on the outside. 

“The easiest way to protect the public from the harms caused by contraband cell phones is to allow for the use of cell phone jamming technology in prisons and jails, but the FCC continues to block our efforts,” Carr said. “This outdated guidance limits legitimate law enforcement tools, presents dangerous conditions for correctional officers, and allows for the escalation of criminal networks both inside and outside prison walls.”

In 2023, Carr notes that the state of Georgia confiscated over 8,000 contraband cell phones, and so far this year, they confiscated just under 5,500 contraband phones, too. 

He notes one case of an 88-year-old veteran in Georgia who was killed after a gang leader ordered their killing from behind bars with a contraband cell phone.

With the risk that contraband cellphones play, Carr is asking the FCC to change their rules to give law enforcement agencies a new tool to fight crimes behind prison walls.