by Dana DiFilippo, New Jersey Monitor
A state correctional officer was arrested for allegedly accepting bribes to smuggle tobacco and other contraband to people incarcerated at Northern State Prison in Newark, the New Jersey attorney general’s office announced Tuesday.
Senior Correctional Officer Christopher Santana, 32, of Hackensack, was charged with bribery in official and political matters, official misconduct, and contraband. Investigators with the state Office of Public Integrity and Accountability found that he allegedly accepted about $2,000 in bribes to smuggle contraband into the mixed-security lockup in a scheme that started around May 2024, the attorney general’s office said.
The arrest comes as state Department of Corrections officials struggle to contain drug activity behind bars, where several overdoses have resulted in wrongful death lawsuits and accusations of pervasive drug-smuggling. The department converted last year to a mail-scanning system to foil people who spray synthetic marijuana, fentanyl, and other drugs onto paper disguised as mail.
A department spokesman did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The investigators who charged Santana saw him arrive for his night shift on June 10 with “a large bulge” in his clothing, the attorney general’s office said. They searched him and discovered two vacuum-sealed bags containing suspected tobacco and three bottles of an unknown liquid under his protective vest and near his thigh, the office said.
Investigators searched incarcerated people suspected of conspiring with Santana in the smuggling scheme and found a cellphone, suspected tobacco, suspected marijuana, and pills suspected to be illegal drugs, the office said. The contraband was seized.
“This type of behavior damages the public’s perception of the many hardworking, honest officers who every day do the difficult, essential work of overseeing correctional institutions across our state,” Attorney General Matt Platkin said in a statement.
Santana, who payroll records show makes $70,630 a year, faces up to 25 years in prison and $315,000 in fines, if convicted.