IONIA (WKZO-AM/FM) — Three people who allegedly used a drone to smuggle contraband into the Richard A. Hanlon Correctional Facility in Ionia are themselves sitting in jail early Friday, while prosecutors try to find the right crimes to charge them with.
Staff at the prison heard the drone overhead at about 4 a.m. Thursday. Packets contained drugs, a razor blade and a cell phone. Staff alerted local police who took three men from Detroit sitting in a car near the prison into custody.
Department of Corrections officials say it’s not the first time the method has been been tried, but it was the first time the operators were caught immediately.
It has sparked new interest in taking up proposed legislation in Lansing that would ban drone flights around prisons and other criminal justice facilities.
