A former employee of the D.C. Department of Corrections has admitted to smuggling narcotics and cigarettes into a prison facility, according to a recent announcement by the U.S. Attorney's Office. Herbert Baylor, a 68-year-old case manager, pleaded guilty to one count of bribery connected to a scheme that operated within the Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF), a specialized medium security facility that caters to inmates with substance dependencies and requiring medical treatment or monitoring.
The plea was announced jointly by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr., Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the FBI's Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Investigator Kevin L. Hammond of the D.C. DOC's Office of Investigative Services. The Honorable Tanya Chutkan is scheduled to sentence Baylor on Aug. 11, 2025, as reported by the Justice Department.
Court documents reveal that Baylor's role at CTF included assisting pre-trial and trial inmates with administrative needs and facilitating communication with legal counsel or social workers. From December 19, 2022, through September 23, 2024, Baylor received a total of $6,245 for smuggling contraband, including controlled substances, negotiated through payments over CashApp from outside associates of an inmate identified as Inmate-1.
On September 23, 2024, the scheme came to a culmination when Baylor, having met with an individual in the CTF parking lot, accepted $1,000 to smuggle in a carton he believed to contain Suboxone strips, a Schedule III narcotic drug. "He put the cigarette carton inside his underwear," the U.S. Attorney's Office detailed, indicating the lengths to which Baylor would go to ensure the contraband entered the facility. He was arrested right after passing through security. His co-defendant, Pamela Porter, 56, had already pleaded guilty on April 17 in connection with her role in the scheme.
As a DOC employee, Baylor was aware that the agency's Contraband Control policy strictly prohibits trafficking any form of contraband to inmates. The FBI’s Washington Field Office and the D.C. DOC's Office of Investigative Services conducted the investigation, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Gold is prosecuting the case.
