San Quentin Death Row Contraband Probe Ensnares Prison Guard

SAN QUENTIN, CA — A San Quentin State Prison guard was charged in federal court this week in connection with a scheme to smuggle cellphones to Death Row inmates, authorities said.

Correctional officer Keith Christopher, 37, of Pittsburg was among three people charged, the Office Northern District of California’ U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

Isaiah Wells, 32, of Tracy and Tanisa Smith-Symes, 45, of Las Vegas, were the others.

All three defendants were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud using interstate wires, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Christopher and Wells appeared in court Wednesday before United States Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim, who sits in San Francisco.

Both were released on bond. Their next scheduled court appearance is Sept. 17.

The three defendants conspired to smuggle cellphones into San Quentin State Prison’s East Block, where condemned inmates are housed, prosecutors alleged in a filing complaint.

Smith-Symes worked with a Death Row inmate with whom she had a relationship to obtain the contraband phones and ship them to Wells, who then provided the phones to Christopher, who smuggled them into the prison, the complaint alleges.

The defendants smuggled at least 25 phones into the prison, which an inmate sold for up to $900 each, the complaint alleges.

Smith-Symes sent bribery payments to Christopher through Wells and others whom Christopher had appointed to receive the money, the complaint alleges.

The complaint further alleges that Christopher charged $500 as payment for each phone he smuggled into the prison.

Cellphones are deemed contraband under state law that prohibits inmates from possessing them.

An FBI agent who investigated the case described cellphones as “a valued commodity in prison that can also affect the safety and security of the inmates and employees of the institution,” The Marin Independent Journal reports.

“Inmates have used cellular phones to facilitate and coordinate violent attacks against inmates as well as the smuggling and trafficking of contraband such as cellphones and drugs,” Agent Candace Bond wrote in the affidavit, according to The IJ report.