How a Box of Skittles Got One South Carolina Correctional Officer Put Behind Bars
A correctional officer has been booked into the facility she used to work at after she was caught using a Skittles box to smuggle weed.
Taliyah Fewell — a 23-year-old correctional officer from South Carolina — is facing charges of furnishing contraband to inmates after a cache of weed and cigarettes was discovered behind a shower.
She was arrested at her home and booked by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department on May 6. A search of her apartment turned up an undisclosed amount of cannabis alongside a letter between Fewell and an inmate at the facility she worked in.
But how did the official trace the prison-bound marijuana back to Fewell? As it turns out it wasn’t because she was caught by a fellow officer, or spotted on a security camera. Instead, an inmate told authorities that he had seen Fewell distributing cannabis to several detainees by using a Skittles box to hide the illicit stash.
Fewell isn’t the only correctional officer from a Southeastern state to use food as a means to smuggle cannabis to inmates. Zaquana Hampton recently faced similar charges when she attempted to smuggle 12 ounces of cannabis into a Georgia prison using a Subway sandwich.
Fewell could face pretty steep punishment for this offense, since South Carolina still enforces cannabis prohibition. The charge of furnishing contraband to inmates is a felony offense, which could net her a fine as high as $10,000 and up to 10 years in prison.