JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville residents are reacting after 17 people, including a former Jacksonville Sheriff's Office correctional officer, were arrested after a drug bust inside the Duval County jail. Sheriff T.K. Waters made the announcement during a news conference on Tuesday.
A former and current worker at the jail says it’s unfortunate because using drugs in jail stops inmates from being able to change their lives for the better.
Ex-JSO correctional officer Kobe Collete, his sister Elisha Hughes and City of Jacksonville public works employee Corey Copeland are now facing charges along with 14 inmates in what the sheriff described as a conspiracy to sell drugs inside the jail.
“If you want to come to JSO and your intent is to come here and do something illegal, don't,” said Waters. “Because we are going to find out.”
Waters said Collete had been on the job for two and a half years. A JSO spokesperson said fentanyl and a form of ecstasy were among the drugs involved.
“The reason why I’m not surprised is because, for one, I think with correctional officers there’s such a high turnover rate,” said Anita Spencer.
Spencer used to run a women’s program at the jail and said many of those women were battling addiction. Many correctional agencies lose nearly half their staff within five years, according to the American Correctional Association.
“I think when you have something like that, you’re not going to be able to control a lot of what’s happening because some people might get the job just to do exactly what has happened,” Spencer said.
First Coast News Crime and Safety Expert Ken Jefferson said the investigation could potentially save lives.
“The good thing is it's been exposed,” Jefferson said. “Because what you don't want is a drug overdose phenomenon going on in the jail as a result of these drugs coming in.”
A JSO spokesperson said, “The drugs introduced by these suspects have not been attributed to any specific overdoses.”
For Pastor Jay Harris with The Ville Church, who’s involved with inmates at the jail, the situation is personal.
"You want to see them come out better than they went in,” he said. “That's the hope."
Harris said he hopes the incident is a lesson for leaders.
“It’s unfortunate and at the end of the day, I just hope that our leaders in the city, they learn from this,” Harris said. “We can improve what we’re doing with inmates to give them hope and a better future.”
The sheriff said there will be security changes at the jail, but could not get into specifics about what those changes are.