Atascosa Deputy Arrested for Giving Drugs to Inmate



photo of Officer Madison Howard
Correction Officer Madison Howard

Meth Found in Inmate’s Cell

I hate to say it but thank you Atascosa for taking the news off of Bexar County if only for a moment. We needed the breathing room. A 19-year old Atascosa Corrections Officer was arrested for giving drugs to inmates for some kind of payment. The KSAT article doesn’t say what the payment was. In Bexar County, inmates are not allowed to have money. We don’t know what the policy is for Atascosa County. Once the meth was found in the cell the agency conducted a week-long investigation and discovered that Corrections Officer Madison Howard was the responsible party. The appropriate steps were taken and the sheriff, David Soward, was open and honest with his constituents.

Atascosa Sheriff’s Press Release

Atascosa County Sheriff, David Soward, put out a press release regarding the incident on the Sheriff’s Facebook page. We’ll let him describe the situation in his own words.

PRESS RELEASE – JANUARY 19, 2020

About a week ago, ACSO Corrections Officers found Methamphetamine in a jail cell.
I instructed my Criminal Investigation Division to immediately begin an investigation into its origin. My Narcotics investigators conducted a week long investigation which led to the identification of a suspect and subsequent surveillance by several sheriff’s officers early Sunday morning. Investigators observed a corrections officer deliver an item to an inmate who in turn provided the corrections officer with a payment. The corrections officer was immediately arrested by sheriff’s investigators and the inmate’s payment was recovered. A quantity of Methamphetamine was recovered from the inmate’s cell and an additional six grams of Methamphetamine was located in the correction officers purse in her locker. I ordered the immediate termination of this employee.

Madison Howard, age 19, of Atascosa, Texas in Bexar County was booked into jail and charged with Prohibited Substance in a Correctional Facility and Possession of a Controlled Substance with intent to Deliver over 4 grams. She had worked in the jail for less than two months.

Any type of criminal conduct by employees of the Sheriff’s Office will not be tolerated, it’s part of my Mission Statement, especially incidents involving narcotics and the introduction of contraband into the jail. The 81st Judicial District Attorney’s Office was consulted during this investigation.

-Sheriff David Soward

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