This post was originally published by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Kentucky.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Two former employees at the Federal Medical Center Lexington (“FMC Lexington”), a federal prison managed by the Bureau of Prisons, were sentenced last week for separate incidents related to receiving illegal bribes and gratuities.
A. Jade Howard, 36, of Port Charlotte, Fl., was sentenced to 12 months and 1 day by U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell for bribery. According to her plea agreement, from 2021 through October 2024, Howard was employed as a correctional officer and then as a materials handler. Howard knew that inmates were not allowed to possess contraband, including cigarettes and other illicit substances, and that she had a duty to report any such possession. Nonetheless, after being approached by an inmate at FMC Lexington about smuggling cigarettes into the facility, Howard agreed to bring the contraband into FMC Lexington in exchange for money. Howard smuggled tobacco cigarettes for the inmate, and later smuggled in what she believed to be synthetic marijuana (subsequently determined through laboratory testing to be 5F-ADB, a Schedule I controlled substance). In exchange, between December 2023 and December 2024, Howard received $18,602 through mobile banking applications…