BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A former federal correctional officer was sentenced to four years in prison for accepting more than $80,000 to smuggle drugs and cellphones into Federal Correctional Institution Jesup.
Ashley Brown, 37, pleaded guilty to 24 counts of a public official accepting a bribe and 16 counts of money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia.
Brown was also sentenced to three years of supervised release.
Brown worked as a correctional officer and later as a material handler supervisor at FCI Jesup. From May through September 2022, inmates sent Brown payments through Cash App in exchange for contraband, prosecutors said.
The contraband included methamphetamine, synthetic marijuana known as K2, marijuana and cellphones. Brown delivered the items to two incarcerated co-defendants, who distributed them to others inside the prison through the commissary system, according to court documents and testimony.
Two inmates also received federal prison sentences for their roles in the scheme.
Adrian Sims, 53, was sentenced to 78 months in prison after pleading guilty to possessing contraband in prison. Navarus Bryant, 48, received a 57-month sentence after pleading guilty to 24 counts each of paying a bribe to a public official and money laundering. Both will serve three years of supervised release following their prison terms.
“Public officials within a prison are entrusted with maintaining the safety and integrity of our penal institutions, and those who trade that public trust for personal profit compromise the security of everyone inside,” U.S. Attorney Margaret E. “Meg” Heap said.
