By C1 Staff
Calif. — A new report shows that 20 correctional officers who were fired or resigned did so due to accusations of phone smuggling, which were often the result of prison romances.
The LA Times is reporting that most of the correctional officers who lost their positions were accused of smuggling phones in for cash. Cellphones can fetch up to $1,000 behind bars.
But the watchdog report by the prison’s Office of the Inspector General claimed taboo romances as a common motive in the 419 cases of serious rules breaking it identified.
One inmate caught with a phone had text messages and nude photos sent by a female correctional officer.
Another female correctional officer was accused of smuggling phones to the inmate suspected of fathering her child.
Among the cases were 54 employees accused of smuggling phones. While 20 lost their jobs, 13 had the allegations against them dropped and the rest remain under investigation.
The number of phones confiscated by correctional officers has dropped in recent months.
A law pushed by prison administrators and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown would make smuggling phones a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of $5,000.