In what is being considered a revelation of "staggering corruption within Georgia Department of Corrections institutions," nearly 50 current and former correctional officers from the state of Georgia were arrested by the FBI on federal drug trafficking and bribery charges early Thursday morning, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta revealed.
The indictments revealed "staggering corruption within Georgia Department of Corrections institutions," said John Horn, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, according to CNN.
The arrests come as the result of an ongoing two-year undercover operation that has covered nine facilities around Georgia. The probe found that prison guards and staff were smuggling contraband such as liquor, tobacco and cell phones into the prison for monetary compensation, as well as accepting bribe payments in exchange for providing protection for drug deals.
Five of those arrested were guards that were members of the Department of Corrections' tactical team, which was created to root out contraband and control prison riots, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Britt Johnson, special agent in charge of the Atlanta FBI office, noted how contraband in prison - cell phones in particular - poses a major problem for law enforcement.
"It makes a huge challenge for law enforcement," Johnson said. "After you chase down, arrest and prosecute criminals and put them away for life, and they continue to direct crime on the streets from their jail cells."
"When an inmate can reach beyond prison walls and threaten and intimidate witnesses and prosecutors, it's a breakdown of the judicial system," he said, referencing an incident in 2014 when a North Carolina prisoner orchestrated a hostage-taking incident in Atlanta by using a cellphone.
While 49 people were arrested at this stage in the investigation, the operation has already resulted in mass arrests and federal charges on at least two separate occasions.
On Jan. 21, more than 50 Georgia Department of Corrections employees, inmates and non-incarcerated co-conspirators were slapped with federal charges that included conspiring to commit wire fraud and accepting bribes to smuggle contraband into prison blocks. Those charges were preceded by a federal charge against three inmates and 14 others on Jan. 13 for their participation in a wide-ranging drug trafficking conspiracy that operated throughout Atlanta and southeast U.S.
In the meantime, the 49 arrested, including two civilians and an inmate, were handed over to Federal Marshals in Georgia after appearing in front of a federal magistrate to hear their charges as they await trial.
