Baltimore prison guards indicted in massive drug conspiracy
Thirteen female guards are accused of helping gang members run a national drug ring from behind bars
Topics: The Fix, Baltimore, Black Guerilla Family, Prison, FBI, News
Thirteen female corrections officers have been indicted for helping a national gang known as Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) run a drug-trafficking and money-laundering scheme from behind bars. The prison guards were among 25 defendants, including inmates and outside suppliers, charged with racketeering and drug conspiracy, with each of them facing a maximum sentence of 20 years for the charges. Prosecutors accused the 13 women of essentially handing over control of the jail to the gang, helping them conduct their business by smuggling cellphones, prescription drugs and other contraband in their clothing and hair. Four of the officers even became pregnant by one inmate, with two of them also getting tattoos of his first name. Affadavits for search warrants at the homes of the prison guards report that the inmates specifically looked for female officers they perceived to have “low self-esteem.” “The inmates literally took over ‘the asylum,’ and the detention centers became safe havens for BGF,” says FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt. Court documents show that one-gram bags of marijuana sold behind bars for $50, a profit of about $1,000 per ounce, while Percocet pills went for triple their street value.
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