Contraband

News, deep dives, and analysis — every Contraband story, newest first.

Articles

Beats covered

Reporters on beat

Sep 14

Last updated

The main entrance of the United States Penitentiary at Pollock, Louisiana, with a flagpole in a landscaped circular drive.

Contraband · Louisiana

Prison Drone Flew $31,000 of Meth Back to Its Launch Site

A Grant Parish deputy found the drone on the ground with the meth still strapped to it. A dying battery had flown it home, and two Texas men are in jail.

Haye KestelooSep 145 min read

FAA

Drone Smuggling Ring Hit 10 Prisons, DOJ Charges

A federal grand jury in Georgia indicted twelve people for running drones over the walls of ten federal prisons in eight states, dropping drugs, cell phones, and saw blades at least 38 times. Prosecutors call it the largest federal case to date built around coordinated drone smuggling into prisons. The 17-count indictment, unsealed June 24…

Rafael SuárezJun 25

DJI

South Carolina Moves to Criminalize Prison Drone Drops

South Carolina lawmakers are closing a gap that’s been frustrating law enforcement for years. A bill dubbed the South Carolina Drone Regulation and Public Safety Act cleared a Senate committee unanimously this week, following a unanimous House vote last month, as the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported. If it becomes law, the state will finally…

Rafael SuárezMay 12

Contraband is entering Georgia prisons from Drones— again

DJI

Flock’s Jail Drone Wants to Expand to 19 County-Wide

NPR caught up with the Fulton County Jail drone story this week, three weeks after we covered the original Flock Safety deployment in detail. The national coverage matters because it surfaces two details that weren’t in the March announcement: Sheriff Patrick Labat’s plan to expand from one rooftop drone to 19 drones positioned across Fulton…

Rafael SuárezApr 17

DJI

A Flock Drone Now Guards Georgia’s Most Notorious Jail

The Fulton County Sheriff's Office launched the system on March 19 in partnership with Flock Safety, the Atlanta-based public safety

Rafael SuárezMar 24

Police

Drone Drops Knives, Drugs, and a Cell Phone Into New York State Prison, Fueling Push for Hochul’s Anti-Drone Law

A midnight drone drop at Marcy Correctional Facility involving knives and drugs has sparked a push for Governor Hochul’s anti-drone law. Explore the incident, the escalating threat to NY prisons, and why detection technology is the new frontline in correctional security.

Haye KestelooMar 18

Police

Tennessee asks for $1.7M in drone detection tech as prison contraband airdrops keep coming

Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada told state lawmakers on Tuesday that drone-delivered contraband is no longer an occasional annoyance. It is one of the most significant security threats his facilities face. His department is requesting $1.7 million in funding for drone detection technology to address what he called a necessary response to an…

Haye KestelooFeb 11

Contraband

Prison Drone Drops Turn Night Skies Into Smuggling Lanes

A single drone drop at South Carolina’s Lee Correctional Institution recently made national headlines, not because of technical sophistication, but because of its grocery list, as WISTV reports. Crab legs, steak, Old Bay seasoning, and marijuana were delivered neatly from the night sky, a reminder that modern drone misuse does not always involve espionage or…

Rafael SuárezJan 31

Contraband

The drone industry moves fast. Stay ahead of it.