Arkansas Department of Correction sergeant accused of smuggling drugs into prison

This file photo, shows a sign for the Arkansas Department of Correction's Cummins Unit prison in Varner, Ark.
This file photo, shows a sign for the Arkansas Department of Correction's Cummins Unit prison in Varner, Ark.

A corrections sergeant at Arkansas' largest prison was arrested this week and charged with attempting to smuggle drugs into the unit, an official said.

Tia Washington of Greenville, Miss., was booked into the Jefferson County jail early Tuesday morning, according to online records. The 26-year-old was charged with furnishing a prohibited article and later released, according to the jail.

Arkansas Department of Correction spokeswoman Dina Tyler said Wednesday that Washington had been caught "coming on the shift" at the Cummins Unit with 71 grams of marijuana and 53 grams of K2, a synthetic form of the drug that has wrecked havoc on Arkansas prisons, and been linked to several deaths.

Cummins, located in Lincoln County, is a prison farm with a capacity of 1,876 inmates. Tyler said the incident was the the second instance of a guard at the prison being caught with marijuana in recent months.

Washington had worked for the Department of Correction for three years, Tyler said, and was promoted to sergeant in March. Washington was fired from her job following the arrest.

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