ICYMI: Former GA Prison Guard Smuggled Drugs For Cash: Verdict

ATLANTA, GA — A former Georgia Department of Corrections Officer was convicted of accepting bribes to smuggle contraband into a state prison. Jokelra Copeland, 32, smuggled drugs into Autry State Prison in Pelham, Georgia, according to a release from the Department of Justice.

Copeland was assigned to the night shift and "within months" conspired with inmates and other corrections officers to bring in the contraband. She accepted over $13,000 in bribes during a four-month period in 2015, the release says.

“It’s troubling that Copeland was willing to sell her oath of office by breaking the very laws she had only months before promised to enforce,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.

Copeland smuggled marijuana into the prison by hiding it under her clothing on multiple occasions. She received at least eleven separate bribe payments from international financial wire services, according to the DOJ.

She was far from alone; the FBI arrested 68 Georgia corrections officers in 2016. The Bureau's investigation found the officers were using their credentialed positions to smuggle drugs into the prisons and to cover up drug deals outside the prisons.

U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg will sentence Copeland on May 1.

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