A man accused of sneaking liquor, weapons and other banned items into the Clayton County Jail is now behind bars himself, after fugitive investigators tracked him down in South Georgia. Quentarrious Shivers was captured on video crossing the facility's guard line to hand off the contraband to inmates, according to deputies, before he fled the area ahead of his arrest.
Members of the Clayton County Sheriff's Elite Fugitive Unit arrested Shivers on August 28, following the video-captured delivery, according to the Clayton County Sheriff's Office. As reported by WSB-TV, deputies say Shivers was seen on video crossing the jail's guard line and delivering prohibited items directly to inmates. The alleged contraband included liquor, weapons, telecommunications devices and other prohibited items, per authorities.
Shivers now faces charges of crossing the guard line along with three counts of furnishing inmates with prohibited items, the outlet's report notes. Deputies did not say how the contraband was actually delivered inside the facility. The sheriff's office framed the arrest with a pointed warning, saying simply, “not so fast,” to anyone considering similar schemes.
A Felony Under Georgia Law
Crossing a correctional facility's guard line with unauthorized weapons, alcohol or controlled substances is a felony under Georgia statute O.C.G.A. § 42-5-15, punishable by one to four years in prison, according to Miles Hansford. The law treats guard-line breaches as serious offenses on their own, independent of whatever drugs or weapons are actually involved. Fugitive unit members eventually located Shivers in South Georgia, where he had fled after the alleged delivery was caught on camera.
This isn't the first time outside accomplices have tried to get contraband past the jail's perimeter. The sheriff's office has previously described “Eyes in the Sky” schemes, in which people outside the facility attach supply bags to lines dropped from cell windows that inmates have broken open, and has run targeted operations against these drop-bag networks around the jail grounds.
Internal Corruption Adds to the Picture
External smuggling attempts like Shivers' case are only part of the problem. The sheriff's office reported in August that 22 staff members and contractors have been arrested for corruption and misconduct since Sheriff Levon Allen took office, including jail employees caught taking payments to bring in contraband, part of what Allen has labeled Operation Clean House. In June 2025, a 38-year-old jail employee was arrested in uniform during a morning shift roll call after investigators accused her of smuggling contraband to an inmate, according to Atlanta News First.
The stakes of contraband getting into the jail's most secure housing were on display in March, when a planned search of the Super Max unit uncovered multiple homemade shanks and set off a violent disturbance in which four inmates assaulted deputies, leaving three officers injured, per 11Alive. That unit houses inmates facing violent charges including murder. Hoodline previously covered the aftermath in a brutal morning disturbance.
A Jail Under Sustained Scrutiny
The Clayton County Jail has faced a string of high-profile controversies well beyond contraband smuggling. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation opened an independent inquiry in June after a 26-year-old inmate was found dead in the jail's medical unit, a case Hoodline reported on at the time. A cellmate was separately charged in the fatal beating of a 66-year-old inmate earlier this year, and the facility was featured nationally on the Discovery Channel series 120 Hours Behind Bars in January, spotlighting its severe physical security and maintenance challenges.
Staffing and funding disputes have compounded the pressure. Sheriff Allen sued Clayton County commissioners in September 2025, arguing that budget constraints left him unable to fill necessary correctional officer positions or adequately secure the jail, according to Corrections1. He joined sheriffs in Fulton and Burke counties in similar legal action over operational funding. Allen took over the office from former Sheriff Victor Hill, who was released to community confinement in March 2024 before finishing an 18-month federal sentence tied to unconstitutional use of restraint chairs on jail detainees, as Hoodline detailed in its coverage of Hill's early move to confinement.
