Rikers Island

Video Shows Mom Smuggling Contraband Into Rikers Inside Baby's Diaper

Surveillance video shows the mother pass the baby to the baby's father during a visit at the jail

What to Know

  • A woman smuggled drugs into Rikers by hiding them inside her baby’s diaper during a visit to the baby’s father
  • Surveillance video shows the mother pass the baby to her father, an inmate at the infamous jail, during a visitation
  • “It’s a damn shame that someone would stoop so low to use a child that way,” the head of the correction officers union said

A woman smuggled contraband into Rikers by hiding it inside her baby’s diaper during a visit to the baby’s father.

Surveillance video taken in April and released Wednesday shows the mother pass the baby to her father, an inmate at the infamous jail, during a visitation.

The head of the city’s union representing correction officers on Wednesday told NBC 4 New York that officers are more than familiar with smuggling attempts of the sort.

Sources said neither the inmate nor the visitor were charged for the diaper incident, as it wasn't clear exactly what they smuggled in.

“It’s a damn shame that someone would stoop so low to use a child that way,” Elias Husamudeen said.

Husamudeen called on the city to install high-tech body scanners that would be able to detect contraband and weapons.

A crossword puzzle laced with K2 and tables filled with knives and razors are among the contraband that have recently been smuggled into facilities. 

A city spokesperson on Wednesday said facilities will start using body scanners at the end of January.

“Thanks to recent legislation passed in Albany, we will soon be deploying ionizing body scanners into our facilities,” the spokesperson said, adding that the law would go into effect on Jan. 30.

“These devices will be able to detect small blades and contraband normally invisible to less advanced scanners,” the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson said the city’s Department of Correction has “increased [its] contraband seizures by more than 500 percent since 2014.”

The department “achieved a drastic drop of 45 percent in slashings and stabbings since January compared to the same time period last year,” due in large part to officers keeping weapons and other contraband from entering facilities, the spokesperson added.

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