SC Corrections officer accused of attempting to bring contraband into prison

An S.C. Department of Corrections officer has been accused of attempting to bring contraband into a prison after she was found allegedly with several items including a cell phone.

Raven Freeman is facing charges of attempting to furnish contraband to a prisoner, misconduct in office and possession with intent to distribute, according to warrants by the corrections department.

Freeman was allegedly found with items officers suspect was marijuana, cigarettes, sixteen cigars and a flip phone with a charger, the warrants said. The items were found “during a shake down of Freeman’s property” in her personal bags at McCormick Correctional Institution, where she worked.

The warrants also said the suspected marijuana was “packaged in (three) individual packages.” Freeman had worked at the Department of Corrections since November 2011.

McCormick Correctional Institution is maximum-security facility. One of its prisoners was killed in November, allegedly at the hands of another inmate.

Corrections director Bryan Stirling has long expressed frustration with contraband in the state’s prisons, especially cell phones. In late April, inmates seized control of a dorm at Kershaw Correctional Institution during an incident in which three officers were injured while attempting to retrieve contraband from a prisoner.

This story was originally published May 1, 2017 at 3:57 PM.