Marion man worked with South Carolina prison guard in bribery, contraband scheme, prosecutors say

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WBTW) — A Marion County man serving 15 years at the Broad River Correctional Institute ran a bribery and smuggling operation along a prison guard, federal prosecutors allege.

Jerell Reaves, also known as “Hell Rell,” and Christine Mary Livingston, 46, whose aliases include “Hell Rell’s Queen,” were indicted on April 2 on 15 charges including bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering.

In all, Livingston accepted more than $219,000 in bribes over three years and got 173 contraband cellphones for inmates, according to the indictment.

Myrtle Beach man caught smuggling contraband into state prison, authorities say

Livingston accepted payments from 48 peer-to-peer accounts. Reaves was responsible for funneling at least $42,640 to the guard, according to the indictment.

Reaves received a 15-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter in the shooting of a man at a Marion County convenience store in 2015.

Both face up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and an order to pay back any illegal earnings if convicted.

Prosecutors say Livingston and Reaves, 33, took bribes for cellphones and other contraband accessories, accepting payments of between $1,000 and $7,000 through Cash App.

Livingston had worked for the state Department of Corrections for 16 years, promoted to captain at Broad River in 2016 — putting her in charge of security at the Columbia prison.

Her employment with the agency ended in November 2021, court documents say.
Lawyers for Livingston and Reaves did not respond to emails from The Associated Press on Friday.

Reaves is scheduled for an initial court appearance on Wednesday in Columbia, while Livingston has an April 26 arraignment date.

Contraband cellphones in South Carolina prisons have been a long-running problem. Corrections Director Bryan Stirling said inmates have run drug rings, fraud schemes and have even ordered killings from behind bars.

A 2018 riot that killed seven inmates at Lee Correctional Intuition was fueled by cellphones.

“This woman broke the public trust in South Carolina, making our prisons less safe for inmates, staff and the community. We will absolutely not tolerate officers and employees bringing contraband into our prisons, and I’m glad she is being held accountable,” Stirling said in a statement to The Associated Press.

The South Carolina prison system has implored federal officials to let them jam cellphone signals in prisons but haven’t gotten permission.

Recently, they have had success with a device that identifies all cellphones on prison grounds, allowing employees to request mobile phone carriers block the unauthorized numbers, although Stirling’s agency hasn’t been given enough money to expand it beyond a one-prison pilot program.

In January, Stirling posted a video from a frustrated inmate calling a tech support hotline when his phone no longer worked asking the worker “what can I do to get it turned back on?” and being told he needed to call a Corrections Department hotline.

From July 2022 to June 2023, state prison officials issued 2,179 violations for inmates possessing banned communication devices, and since 2015, more than 35,000 cellphones have been found. The prison system has about 16,000 inmates.

Stirling has pushed for the General Assembly to pass a bill specifying cellphones are illegal in prisons instead of being included in a broad category of contraband and allowing up to an extra year to be tacked on a sentence for having an illegal phone, with up to five years for a second offense.

That bill has not made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.

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