KERSHAW, S.C. — South Carolina prisons are under attack by drones dropping drugs, cellphones, and other contraband right into the hands of prisoners.
It happens daily at prisons nationwide, but South Carolina created a unique drone unit to fight back.
[ ALSO READ: Drone drops steak, crab legs into prison yard, but guard finds it first ]
However, the head of corrections still needs federal help to win the war.
Criminals inside prisons are coordinating the drone drops often using illegal cellphones.
“4/1/2 minutes is the average drone flight from flying and getting contraband in and leaving,” said Lt. Tyler Galloway, drone unit manager with the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
He works every day to keep those drones from reaching their destinations.
Illegal drones trip a sensor causing an alert, which shows its location and operator.
The SCDOC unit then launches its own drone to track the illegal one.
On the ground, team members try to intercept whatever the drone delivered, which is often illegal drugs, cellphones, and other contraband.
One of the drops included ingredients for a crab boil and marijuana. Some items are wrapped in grass, so the package blends in with the yard.
It’s a race to find the items before inmates do.
“Sometimes, they will bust out their windows and fish something through their cells,” Galloway said. “It’s essential in getting there fast.”
His team also works with local law enforcement to find drone operators, who are always off site.
Chesterfield County’s bloodhound team told Terry they captured a repeat offender who had dropped a load of contraband into Evans Correctional Institute in Bennettsville in 2024.
“Technology has grown and it’s growing faster than you could dream,” said SCDOC director Joel Anderson.
Illegal drone attacks started in 2017, Anderson said. Convicted felon Jimmy Causey used tools delivered by drone that year to break out of Lieber Correctional Institute in Ridgeville.
He was captured days later in Texas with cash, cellphones, and weapons.
“When they get a bigger widget, we have to get a bigger widget,” Anderson said. “When they get something that defeats us, we have to grow and get above that, so we can stop that, being defeated.”
The Kershaw Correctional Facility Drone Unit was among the first in the nation. It has intercepted thousands of items, made dozens of arrests, and seized dozens of drones.
However, the drone deliveries continue, because Anderson said prisoners, family members, and friends pay for the loot.
“They use Green Dot cards,” Anderson said. “They use pay cards. They use anything they can use as far as the avenue of buying things, Venmo, you know, and they do it on their cellphone.”
Channel 9 has reported for years about illegal cellphones used by inmates to buy contraband, as well as run drugs, gangs, and intimidate witnesses while behind bars.
“If they can come into prison and have their hands on a cellphone, they never stop their operation of what they were doing on the streets,” Anderson said.
Federal restrictions have kept state prisons from jamming cell signals, but Anderson said that could change soon.
He says he’s working with the Federal Communications Commission, which is taking a closer look at cellphone-jamming technology.
[ ALSO READ: Repeat offender suspected after drone delivers contraband in South Carolina prisons ]
“I believe cellphone jamming is not the 100% answer. I think it’s 85 to 95% of it,” Anderson said.
Anderson also wants the feds to give his drone unit permission to shoot down illegal drones, which is something federal law currently prohibits.
He said that would help put an end to an imminent threat.
Anderson is hoping leaders act quickly.
The FCC is gathering feedback on allowing phone jamming technology.
A gang fight over smuggled phones led to a massive riot at South Carolina’s Lee Correctional Institution. Seven inmates were killed, and 22 others were hurt.
VIDEO: Drone intercepted at local prison; 3 arrested, contraband seized
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