A New York City corrections officer was indicted on Wednesday after allegedly trafficking more than $15,000 worth of illegal items into Rikers Island, the city’s largest jail.
Allegedly, Kendell Felix, 37, received $3,000 in bribe money to bring in 200 cigarettes and a cell phone. He faces third-degree bribe-receiving, first-degree promoting prison contraband, two counts of second-degree promoting prison contraband, and official misconduct. He has a court date on Dec. 4.
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The $15,000 estimate is what the attorney’s office projects the cigarettes and phone would have been valued for in the prison. According to the Bronx District Attorney, cigarettes could go for $50 to $100 in Rikers Island.
In a similar case back in June, another corrections officer was sentenced to three years in prison for conspiring to smuggle contraband. Again, an outside person also paid that person to execute the smuggling. That officer, Jason Skeet, reportedly snuck in marijuana, cigarettes, and food for more than two years before being caught.
And earlier this year, another six people at Rikers Island were accused of smuggling and accepting bribes. That group included three correction officers, one program counselor, a contractor, and one inmate. Carlos Rivera, one of the officers, allegedly smuggled oxycodone and marijuana into the jail between December 2021 and February 2022.
Following the latest bust, Department of Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie scolded the officer for putting his own interests “above the safety of the people in custody, DOC employees, and visitors.”
“Our jails become less safe when correction officers accept bribes to smuggle in contraband, Maginlet-Liddie said, per the New York Post. “We commend the Office of the Bronx District Attorney for working with our department to ensure this individual is brought to justice.”
