A former guard at a federal prison in Atlanta was convicted last week of taking bribes and helping inmates push large amounts of drugs and other contraband into the facility through a hidden hole in the visitation area.
What happened: 51-year-old Patrick Shackelford of Senoia was found guilty by a federal jury on April 2 after a six-day trial. He was taken into custody immediately after the verdict.
The scheme: Shackelford worked as a correctional officer and plumbing supervisor at the U.S. Penitentiary Atlanta, a medium-security federal prison, where he managed a crew of inmate plumbers. Between June 2018 and February 2019, he helped inmates move contraband into the prison nearly every week. Here is how it worked:
- Shackelford told inmate James Hughes about a hidden room and empty space connected to the prison’s visitation area
- Hughes and another inmate, posing as doing plumbing repairs, used a sledgehammer and power drill to break through into that space and cut a small hole under a sink in the visitation area restroom
- They covered the opening with a metal plate to hide it
- During weekend visits, people connected to the inmates pushed tightly wrapped packages of drugs and other contraband through the hole
- Hughes and another inmate retrieved the packages using a plumbing cart as cover and moved them across the prison
What Shackelford got: In exchange, Shackelford received $5,000 in cash and pain pills from Hughes. Hughes and the inmate plumbing crew also did Shackelford’s work assignments for him.
The money trail: Inmate Patrick Kirkman, who was already serving time for a federal drug crime, paid Hughes nearly $20,000 through the mobile payment app Cash App to keep the smuggling going. Kirkman also provided the $5,000 used to bribe Shackelford.
What was found: In February 2019, prison staff discovered roughly two dozen packages hidden in the ceiling of the plumbing office. The packages contained more than a pound of 100% pure methamphetamine, more than a kilogram of marijuana, synthetic marijuana known as “spice,” tobacco, and several cell phones. Officials described it as one of the largest contraband finds in the prison’s history.
The other defendants: Three inmates connected to the scheme have already pleaded guilty.
“At this point, the only difference between the guards and the inmates is who gets to clock out at the end of the day.”
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
