NJ Corrections Officer Sentenced For Smuggling Drugs into Prison

A former Monmouth County Correctional Institution officer has been sentenced to five years in state prison for conspiring to smuggle drugs into a jail so they could then be distributed to inmates.

Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago's office says 55-year-old Bryant Mack of Shamong, Burlington County, was sentenced on Friday.

A cooperative investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Professional Responsibility and Bias Crime Unit and the MCCI Special Investigations Division revealed that Mack, who had been a corrections officer for 18 years, would smuggle drugs and other items into the facility hidden in potato-chip bags. He would then provide the items to an inmate, who would then facilitate the distribution of the items throughout the jail.

The scheme was uncovered in September 2021 after officers caught two inmates with synthetic marijuana and other contraband in their cells.

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During a plea hearing this past November, Mack admitted that he entered into an agreement with an inmate to smuggle synthetic marijuana into the jail in exchange for payment. He pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree conspiracy to distribute a controlled dangerous substance (CDS).

At that time, Mack was ordered to forfeit his job and he is prohibited from holding public office ever again in New Jersey.

Places in NJ where gun owners have sued to carry a legal gun

New Jersey passed its own law in December, trying to ban legal guns from “sensitive places.”

A federal judge found many of those spots to be legally protected on grounds of armed self-defense, noting in her opinion, “Crowded locations are not sensitive places."

As of June, a federal appeals court granted the state attorney general's request to keep part of the law that bars people from carrying handguns in “sensitive places” in effect.

The decision means handguns cannot be carried in places such as zoos, public parks, public libraries and museums, bars, and health care facilities.

The law bars handguns from being carried in those places as well as schools and child care facilities. The lower court's May injunction did not specify those locations, and the appeals court also didn't remove the prohibition in those places.

Gallery Credit: Erin Vogt & The Associated Press

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