An Arkansas man has been sentenced to serve three years in prison for smuggling drugs into the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center. On June 20, Judge Brody Kane handed down the sentence to Kyle Buss, 33, after a three-hour sentencing hearing. Buss had been caught attempting to smuggle fentanyl, tobacco, and methamphetamine into Trousdale Turner on August 21, 2022.  The crime of Introduction of Contraband Into A Penal Facility is a class D felony in Tennessee, carrying a sentence between two and four years.

                At the sentencing hearing, District Attorney Jason Lawson called the pre-sentence investigation officer, the arresting officer from the Trousdale County Sheriff’s Office, and the Officer at Trousdale Turner who detected the smuggling activity. The State introduced pictures of the drugs intercepted, as well as a still frame photograph of Buss removing the drugs from his pants. Buss had taped the drugs inside his pants to attempt to get through security checkpoints as he came on shift.

                Buss claimed that he believed the package only contained tobacco, and claimed he did not have knowledge of the fentanyl or methamphetamine.  District Attorney Lawson argued that he had knowledge that he was smuggling items into the prison which were prohibited,and it mattered not whether he knew exactly what those items were. Judge Kane agreed.  Buss also claimed that he has a lower IQ and was taken advantage of by those who solicited him to smuggle the packages into the jail. Judge Kane found that Buss had sufficient knowledge to package the drugs on his body in an attempt to conceal their detection, and that IQ was not a sufficient excuse for the commission of the crime.

                “The message is that if you wish to smuggle drugs into the prison, you are going to find yourself behind bars serving your own sentence,” said DA Lawson.

                Each year, roughly a half dozen prison employees are indicted for bringing drugs or cellular telephones into the prison. Other employees are also indicted for knowingly permitting inmates to use contraband cellular telephones, regardless of whether that employee smuggled the phone into the facility.

                “People sometimes ask the question of when some of the guards will be indicted for their activities. The fact of the matter is that everyone caught is charged and prosecuted,” said Lawson. “Any person who we can prove plays a knowing part in the criminal activity occurring at the prison should be on notice that they are subject to being arrested and prosecuted.”

                In June, the Trousdale County Grand Jury indicted 41 people for crimes occurring at the prison. Of that 41, twelve were the first group of Indictments related to the June prison riot, and one Indictment was for a prison guard caught smuggling drugs into Trousdale Turner.

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