Bojangles salad used to smuggle drugs into prison in Columbia, SC officials say
A guard at a Columbia prison who tried to smuggle in drugs hidden in a salad from a fast food restaurant was arrested and lost her job, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
Cinnamon Demetria Chantell Towns was arrested Tuesday, Department of Corrections officials said in a news release.
The 29-year-old Lexington resident worked as a correctional officer at Camille Graham Correctional Institution, according to the release.
On Sunday, Towns brought two packages of meth and third filled with tobacco into the prison, arrest warrants show. The packages — one wrapped in black electrical tape and the others in masking tape — were hidden in a to-go salad container from Bojangles, according to arrest warrants.
Based on the charges, the drugs and tobacco were to be delivered to an inmate at the women’s prison.
Towns admitted buying the salad prior to work, arrest warrants show.
The salad container was searched after the Department of Corrections Office of Investigations and Intelligence got information about Towns, it said in the arrest warrants.
Towns was fired after being arrested, Department of Corrections officials said.
The meth found in the salad container weighed 94.1 grams, according to arrest warrants. Based on a 2019 study, that much meth could have a street value between $1,800-$3,760.
Towns was charged with trafficking in methamphetamines more than 28 grams, furnishing contraband to a prisoner, criminal conspiracy, and misconduct in office, according to the release.
On Wednesday, she was not listed as an inmate at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County.
Camille Graham is a women’s-only prison on Broad River Road. It is a medium-security institution that houses 390 inmates, according to the Department of Corrections.
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