One Atlanta prison guard has been charged with smuggling, according to the Department of Justice.
Patrick Shackelford, a federal corrections officer at U.S. Penitentiary Atlanta, has been charged with federal inmates Patrick Kirkman and Mitchell Arms for federal bribery, smuggling and drug charges from an alleged scheme between June 2018 and February 2019, the DOJ reported in a press release.
“The alleged actions of Shackelford not only fosters criminal activity inside and outside of the prison, but it also insults the integrity of every law enforcement officer who takes an oath to serve and protect the people in their communities,” Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, said. “The FBI will relentlessly pursue any allegations of corruption in these facilities to ensure the safety of both staff and inmates.”
In addition to being a corrections officer, Shackelford also worked as a plumbing supervisor at the prison. Inmates working under his direction as members of the “plumbing crew” allegedly smuggled contraband into the facility from a visitor’s bathroom into created holes in the “W-ward.” Shackelford allegedly helped facilitate the distribution of drugs through the prison on nearly a weekly basis.
The two inmates charged allegedly paid thousands of dollars for the “packages” to be smuggled through Cash App, and communication about the delivery of the products happened through text message.
Attorney Paul Kish, who represents the 47-year-old Shackelford, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution his client has not even met the two inmates charged with him.
“They said so loudly ‘we don’t know this man’ that other lawyers had to urge them to be quiet,” Kish told the AJC.
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