Drone drops steak and crab legs for prisoner feast but South Carolina
guards find it first
[December 09, 2025]
BISHOPVILLE, S.C. (AP) — ’Twas three weeks before Christmas, and
in the prison yard, a drone-dropped package was found by a guard.
With steak, weed and crab legs, and cigarettes for days. And to season
it all, a tin of Old Bay.
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In this undated photo released by the South Carolina Department of
Corrections, items dropped by a drone into the Lee Correctional
Institution in Bishopville, S.C., are seen. (South Carolina Department
of Corrections via AP) |
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The illicit meal was dropped into the Lee Correctional
Institution prison yard by a drone, the South Carolina
Department of Corrections said on the social platform X with the
hashtag #ContrabandChristmas.
A photo from the Bishopville prison showed a raw steak still in
the grocery store packing, crab legs and Old Bay with side
plastic baggies of marijuana and a couple of cartons of
cigarettes. The drone was also seized Sunday morning,
authorities said.
Prison officials said they are investigating and no arrests have
been made.
“I’m guessing the inmates who were expecting the package are
crabby,” prisons spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said.
Keeping contraband out of state prisons is a constant battle.
People would toss or use a catapult to get packages of
cellphones, drugs or other illegal items over the perimeter
fence until officials raised the fences and added netting at the
top.
People trying to smuggle things behind bars moved on to drones,
leaving corrections officials to constantly patrol the prison
yard and just outside for the tiny aircraft trying to drop
packages.
Just flying a drone near a prison in South Carolina is a
misdemeanor crime that carries up to 30 days in jail. Dropping
contraband into the prison is a felony that can land someone
behind bars for 10 years.
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