A correctional officer employed by the Alabama Department of Corrections was arrested last week by the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office for bringing drugs into Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore, Alabama, where she worked.
Laneitria Hasberry, 29, was charged with promoting prison contraband and using her official position for personal gain after she brought 170 grams of marijuana into Staton. She reportedly received $1,000 in payment for the drugs.
ADOC spokeswoman Kelly Betts said that an officer conducting searches of incoming staff observed a suspicious package being concealed by Ms. Hasberry. “Hasberry was detained, the package was secured and confiscated,” she said.
Three days after Ms. Hasberry’s arrest, a man incarcerated at Staton died from a suspected drug overdose, according to APR.
APR reported that it took more than 30 minutes for a correctional officer to respond after Timothy Walden lost consciousness.
More than 400 people are incarcerated at Staton, but APR reported that only one correctional officer was on duty at the time and was outside doing a fence check.
Mr. Walden’s death is one of two suspected drug overdose deaths in Alabama prisons just last week, according to APR. Charles Harris died at Ventress Correctional Facility last Monday, just 11 days before his scheduled release from prison, APR reported.
Despite a federal lawsuit and mounting casualties in the state’s prisons, ADOC has announced no major adjustments in its management of prisons to respond to repeated drug overdoses and deadly assaults.
Multiple stabbings were reported during the past week. A 36-year-old had to be airlifted to a hospital after he was stabbed at Easterling prison on Thursday, as did a man who was reportedly “gutted” in a stabbing at Donaldson Correctional Facility on Friday.