In a report issued on May 22, 2024, the federal Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) slammed persistent staff shortages at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Sheridan, Oregon, saying they raise “serious safety and security issues” for both prisoners and staff. Ironically, the report was released just weeks after a former guard at the lockup was sentenced to federal prison for his role in a drug-smuggling and bribery conspiracy at the prison.

Nickolas Carlos Herrera, 34, was sentenced on March 18, 2024, to 15 months in prison and three years of supervised release for taking bribes to mule contraband to prisoner Donte Hunt, 40, from a non-incarcerated accomplice, 34-year-old Elizabeth McIntosh. The loot included marijuana, Suboxone, Yeezy sneakers and a cellphone. The former guard pleaded guilty in May 2022 to conspiracy, providing contraband in prison and accepting a bribe as a public official. McIntosh pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony in November 2023. The next month Hunt pleaded guilty to conspiracy and bribery. She was sentenced to a year of probation on February 13, 2024. He got a 15-month prison term on March 18, 2024, running consecutively to a 25-year term already received for a …