COLUMBIA, S.C. — A drone carrying cellphones, marijuana, and other contraband into a South Carolina maximum-security prison never made it inside the 12-foot-high razor wire fence, and authorities said Wednesday they are looking for one of two people accused in connection with trying to sneak it in.
The search has been ongoing since April 21, when officials found a small, crashed drone in bushes outside the walls of Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, according to Corrections Department spokeswoman Stephanie Givens. At the site, Givens said, officers found materials inmates are not supposed to have, including the phones, tobacco products, marijuana, and synthetic marijuana. One person has been arrested.
Givens said officials are not sure exactly where the drone would have gone if it had made it over the wall. He said it was the first time officials know of that a drone was used to smuggle banned items into a South Carolina prison. Last fall, four people in Georgia were accused of using a remote-controlled drone to fly tobacco and cellphones into a state prison there.