Drugs and Cellphones at Virginia GEO Prison

Last year, more than twice as many inmates were caught with drugs at the Lawrenceville Correctional Center as in all other Virginia prisons combined.

State officials also said that more than one in five cell phones confiscated in prisons during the year came from Lawrenceville, the state's only privately operated prison, run by GEO Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., since 2003.

And in an unusual case, two former Lawrenceville officers caught by the FBI with 14.6 grams of crack cocaine pleaded guilty last month to charges of conspiring to deliver drugs to inmates there.

The state disclosures and federal convictions support former Lawrenceville inmate David Eugene Davis' claims that marijuana, cocaine and cell phones were smuggled in by staff and readily available to Lawrenceville inmates for a price.

"It's crazy over there. It's just unbelievable . . . it's wide open," he said in interview in January. "You can buy a cell phone for $150."

State officials have confirmed they are investigating Davis' claim that a former lieutenant extorted $2,000 from him at the 1,536-inmate, medium-security facility in April.

Richmond Times Dispatch