GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A former Green Bay Correctional Institute employee is being charged for allegedly smuggling drugs into prison.
Criminal charges were filed against 36-year-old Rachelle Ritchie on May 16, after she allegedly smuggled marijuana into the prison and had sexual relations with an inmate.
In January, the Brown County Sheriff’s Department began investigating after reports of sexual relations between inmates and staff were brought forward.
Ritchie worked alone in the prison store with other inmate employees, according to the criminal complaint.
Investigators were told by Ritchie that her work environment made her feel vulnerable and “everyone was doing bad things every day,” including other staff members.
The complaint states that’s where she began an intimate relationship with an inmate.
According to the complaint, Ritchie admitted she was “at my breaking point, and the inmates seemed more like friends than the people I worked with.”
investigators were told by Ritchie that an inmate gave her a phone number to call to get marijuana and she would then bring the marijuana into the prison for the inmate, the complaint says.
According to the criminal complaint, she said it was easy to bring contraband into the prison and could, “literally leave items in her coat pockets or lunch box and never get checked.”
Another accusation against Ritchie is bringing hand sanitizer into the prison for inmates to make alcohol to get drunk.
The complaint states that she admitted to investigators she did smoke marijuana and drink alcohol while at work with an inmate.
Ritchie is due back in court for an initial appearance on May 30.
