Hot Pockets wrapper hiding meth didn’t fool prison security, Georgia officials say
A snack wrapper smuggled into a state prison was actually hiding meth and tobacco, Georgia officials say.
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Two women are accused of using Hot Pockets packaging to try to bring contraband into the Calhoun State Prison, according to warrants the Georgia Department of Corrections shared Friday.
Imani Rene Ferguson, 21, and Corlethia Cantrell Lattimore, 28, were working as prison guards when they failed to get through the building’s security check, according to a prison spokesperson.
Security officers “opened the hot pockets and located tobacco and meth,” Lori Benoit of the Department of Corrections wrote in an email to McClatchy News.
A picture shared with WALB appears to show tobacco and meth replacing the filling of pepperoni pizza snacks.
Calhoun State Prison is a medium-security men’s facility, located in the city of Morgan and roughly 30 miles west of Albany.
Officials say Ferguson planned to give an inmate at Calhoun 74 grams of tobacco. The substance was found concealed in a microwaveable meal wrapper, according to arrest warrants.
Lattimore had about 112 grams of meth for an inmate and helped obtain the tobacco, officials wrote in her warrants.
In Georgia, tobacco and illegal drugs are considered contraband in state prisons, according to the Department of Corrections website.
“We stand committed in our continuing efforts to bring justice to those who pose a threat to the safe and secure operations of our facilities, and we applaud the work of GDC’s Correctional Officers,” Benoit wrote.
Ferguson and Lattimore were “terminated,” according to the prison system spokesperson.
The two former correctional officers were arrested Monday and brought to the Calhoun County jail, records show.
Ferguson was charged with violation of oath by a public officer, conspiracy to commit a felony and providing prohibited items to inmates, according to the warrant and the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office. She was out of jail Tuesday on a $15,000 bond, Sheriff Josh Hilton told McClatchy News.
Lattimore was facing the same charges as well astrafficking in methamphetamine and crossing state or county lines with drugs, records show. Her bond hadn’t been set as of Friday morning, according to the sheriff.
Hilton told WALB “his deputies and prison officials have arrested nearly a dozen people in the last year for trying to smuggle contraband inside the prison.”
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Hot Pockets wrapper hiding meth didn’t fool prison security, Georgia officials say."
