A man has been arrested on suspicion of flying a drone loaded with contraband, including mobile phones, into the yard of Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina. Rodney C. Butler, 34, has been charged with providing contraband to inmates and criminal conspiracy following the alleged incident on April 16.
According to the arrest warrants, Butler used his phone to coordinate a drone drop of contraband into the prison yard. He is alleged to have shared information about where the items were to be picked up and was paid by multiple inmates, who were using contraband phones, via text messages. These communications provided evidence for the charges against him.
Richland County deputies responded to a drone alert at the prison and subsequently stopped Butler. After searching his vehicle, they discovered a DJI Inspire 2 drone, which was identified as the same type of drone detected during the alert. Text messages exchanged between Butler and inmates also reportedly confirmed his involvement in the scheme.
While not officially confirmed, it is likely that the system used to detect the drone was provided by Dedrone, a company specialising in counter-drone technology.
In 2023, the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) announced it had installed the Dedrone system in some of its prisons to combat the increasing use of drones to smuggle contraband. The Dedrone system is capable of detecting, tracking and identifying drones in restricted airspaces. It uses radio frequency, radar and other sensors to alert authorities to the presence of drones near prisons or other sensitive areas.
Bryan Stirling, Director of the SCDC, noted that drones pose a growing threat to prison security:
“Drones have now become a new method of delivering contraband into institutions,” Stirling said. “We have strategies in place, and we’re continuing to develop those strategies to stop this.”
According to Stirling, the installation of Dedrone software has been effective:
“We are definitely catching more contraband. We’re catching more contraband at the front gate. We’re catching more drones than I’ve seen,” Stirling said.
The use of drones to smuggle items into prisons has become a significant problem across the United States, with prisons increasingly relying on advanced technology to detect and neutralise such threats.
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