43 prison guards indicted on bribery, drug trafficking charges in Georgia

ATLANTA, GA -- More than 40 prison guards and officers in Georgia have been indicted on charges of accepting bribes and drug trafficking.

The arrests Thursday are the latest in a federal effort to crack down on contraband and criminal activity in Georgia prisons. About 130 people - including prison employees, inmates, former inmates and others accused of helping them - have been indicted since September.

The indictments resulting in the Thursday arrests were filed over the last three months.

A majority of those charged were Georgia Department of Corrections officers accused of agreeing to protect a person they believed was a high-level drug trafficker. The indictments say the officers agreed to wear their uniforms during the drug transports to deter law enforcement interference.

The officers charged worked at nine different prisons.