CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey has joined counterparts in several states to find ways to combat the use of drones dropping contraband to inmates in jails and prisons across the country.
Drones represent a majority security risk when they are used to smuggle weapons and narcotics into prison yards from above. The Mountain State is not immune to the issue.
“We have actually arrested and indicted two people in West Virginia for doing this under our former U.S. Attorney in the southern district, so it’s actually happened here and actually happens here,” said McCuskey.
The best known incident is the one McCuskey spoke about when drones were used at the federal correctional center in McDowell County to drop cell phones and other contraband into the lockup.
“We need laws that make it easier for us to prosecute people who are doing this. Because in southern West Virginia people who had been indicted and convicted essentially got a slap on the wrist because there was no real way to go after them,” McCuskey said.
Per federal law, only a narrow set of federal agencies are authorized to detect, track and mitigate unauthorized drones. Thus, correctional officials – who are on the front lines of this issue – often lack the legal authority and the necessary tools to intervene in real time. To address this gap, McCuskey and 20 other attorneys general have asked the Trump administration to provide state and local law enforcement with the ability to disable or intercept drones before they reach the prison.
“I don’t believe our prison officers have the sufficient authority to remove these drones or to use technology to thwart efforts to move drugs into the prison population,” he said.
In a letter sent to Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counter Terrorism, the attorneys general commend the administration’s creation of the Task Force to Restore American Airspace Sovereignty. They also underscore the sharp increase in drone drops over prison grounds. , the attorneys general request that the Task Force, led by Dr. Gorka, work with federal agencies to grant carefully defined authority for state and local law enforcement to address this threat quickly and efficiently. They also recommend continued collaboration with federal partners to investigate and prosecute those who use drones to introduce contraband into correctional facilities.
In addition to West Virginia, the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas have also signed onto this Georgia-led letter.