It is always sad to see someone persecuted by their own government just for doing the right thing. As is the case with Nickolas Carlos Herrera, a former correctional officer at the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Oregon (FCI Sheridan). Herrera went above and beyond in ways that truly made life better for inmates under his care for which he was sentenced to join them as an inmate himself for 15 months.
Herrera pled guilty last year to accepting bribes, providing contraband, and conspiracy for his role providing inmate Donte Hunt with cigarettes, marijuana, Yeezy sneakers, and Suboxone among other things. That last one is a Schedule III controlled substance used to treat opioid addiction. Suboxone is popular in prison because you can take a small amount, dissolve it in a toothpaste cap with water, and drop it down your nose. More hardcore users inject it but those who hate needles like this author would never do that, so I would just drop it down my nose and watch TV. I was a prisoner at the detention center there in 2017 and 2018 as pretrial detainee but don't recall Herrera specifically. I spent a lot of time in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) across the street under an endless string of "threat assessments" following a disciplinary write up, so maybe that is why I don't recall Herrera or maybe it just means he was not a big enough jerk to be worth remembering because usually when I remember officers those memories are not fond ones.
Hunt and his assistant also entered guilty please. Hunt gets to served his time concurrently with the 300 months he is already serving while the woman that helped him received one year of probation. Concurrent means that both sentences will be served at the same time, so technically Hunt wasn't really punished at all beyond losing his connection. The government keeps boasting what a deterrent this should be when they really need to be more worried about guards that don't help inmates like the ones that rough them up off camera.
In closing, Herrera should be given a trophy with "Correctional Officer of the Year" engraved on it but will instead find himself doing prison time as a correctional officer. If only more guards were like Herrera prison time wouldn't suck so much.