Brooklyn Prison Guard Sentenced to 30 Months for Providing Drugs, Phones to Inmates for Cash

On July 30 he was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Dora L. Irizarry, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York reported in a press release. Upon release, he will be subject to three years of supervised probation. Joseph will forfeit $10,000 believed obtained through those illegal actions, according to the court’s judgment.

“Quandelle Joseph put his own interests above the safety of incarcerated individuals and other correction officers at the Metropolitan Detention Center by accepting bribes to smuggle drugs, cell phones and other contraband into the jail he was sworn to protect,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in announcing the sentence. He said his office has “zero tolerance for corruption in prison facilities” and those who abuse the public’s trust “will find themselves on the wrong side of the bars, like this defendant.”

“Quandelle Joseph put his own interests above the safety of incarcerated individuals and other correction officers at the Metropolitan Detention Center by accepting bribes to smuggle drugs, cell phones and other contraband into the jail he was sworn to protect,”

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in announcing the sentence.

He said his office has “zero tolerance for corruption in prison facilities” and those who abuse the public’s trust “will find themselves on the wrong side of the bars, like this defendant.”

New York FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge said Joseph supplied inmates with contraband for cash and offered “advanced warnings to his clientele to obscure this illicit trade from other guards. His actions not only violated the order and regulation necessary for a secure correctional institution but also threatened the public’s trust in our system.”

Joseph became a correction officer at the prison in May 2020 and soon started using his position to secure payments from inmates for cigarettes, drugs, cell phones and other banned items. One incident cited in court documents was of smuggling contraband into the prison for an inmate who then sold the items in his unit. Joseph once advised his “clients” by text to “erase texts and call logs every night,” just in case the phones were discovered, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Daily Muck.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office noted that Joseph once went to another unit that he was not guarding during a lockdown to give an inmate contraband, for which he was reportedly to be paid $12,000 by the inmate in a January 11 press release reporting the guilty plea. MDC staff smelled marijuana in the inmate’s cell about four hours later and found a contraband cell phone during a search of the cell. Court documents obtained by The Daily Muck state the inmate flushed the marijuana down the toilet when he saw officers approaching his cell.

Special Agent in Charge Ryan T. Geach, with the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General for New York’s Northeast Region, said the public trusts correction officers “to carry out their duties with honor and integrity. Joseph did the opposite when he accepted tens of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for smuggling dangerous contraband into MDC Brooklyn.” He added that Joseph’s sentence proves those “who commit these selfish crimes will be held accountable.”

Joseph has been ordered to begin serving his sentence on Oct. 4. He has appealed his sentence.

Joseph’s defense attorney, Robert LaRusso, did not immediately respond to The Daily Muck’s request for comment.

Monk Case

Another MDC correction officer, Jeremy Monk, was also involved in the scheme. Monk was indicted in September 2022 for bribery and pled guilty in March 2023.

Monk was a guard at MDC from May 2020 until he resigned on April 18, 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported. Investigators said an inmate attempted to make seven payments to Monk, ranging from $750 to $4,000, via Cash App, but all were blocked by the app.

On April 15, 2022 – three days before he resigned – Monk had agreed to accept $10,000 from inmates and to leave the contraband in a staff restroom. MDC staff had been tipped off about the transaction and observed him going into the restroom. After Monk left, the officers found over nine ounces of marijuana hidden on a shelf under floor buffing pads.

Monk was sentenced to one year of probation, including three months of home confinement and 50 hours of community service for one count of bribery of a public official.

The two inmates who blew the whistle on the two guards were “not provided any benefits for the information” given to MDC staff, federal officials noted in court documents.