Mother and Daughter Accused of Trying to Smuggle Fentanyl, Meth Into Alabama Prison System

A mother and daughter were arrested Friday after Alabama Department of Corrections investigators say a traffic stop tied to an ongoing contraband investigation turned up fentanyl, methamphetamine, and several other controlled substances, along with a handgun. Officials say the arrests stemmed from a broader effort to disrupt the flow of drugs and other banned items into Alabama’s state prison facilities.

An Investigation Into Prison Contraband

According to authorities, agents with the ADOC Narcotics Unit, working alongside the department’s Law Enforcement Services Division, K-9 handlers, and the Alabaster Police Department, developed information indicating that Shannon Croskey was involved in efforts to introduce contraband into ADOC facilities. That investigative lead led agents to conduct a probable-cause traffic stop on a white Toyota RAV4 that Croskey was driving. Her daughter, Genita Croskey, was riding as a passenger at the time of the stop.

During the stop, an ADOC K-9 alerted officers to the presence of narcotics inside the vehicle, prompting a search that authorities say uncovered a substantial quantity of illegal drugs. According to officials, the items seized from the vehicle included approximately 7.37 ounces of fentanyl, 4.56 ounces of methamphetamine, 2 ounces of oxycodone pills, 27.7 grams of alprazolam pills, and 0.7 grams of Suboxone strips, along with a Ruger EC9s handgun.

Charges Filed Against Both Women

Both women were transported to the Shelby County Jail following their arrests. Authorities say Shannon Croskey and Genita Croskey each face charges of trafficking fentanyl, trafficking methamphetamine, and trafficking oxycodone, along with possession of a controlled substance charges tied to the alprazolam and Suboxone found in the vehicle. Trafficking charges in Alabama carry significantly higher mandatory minimum sentences than simple possession charges, particularly for the weights of fentanyl and methamphetamine described in this case, reflecting the state’s approach to treating large-quantity drug cases as trafficking offenses rather than personal-use possession.

The Scope of Alabama’s Prison Contraband Problem

Contraband smuggling has remained a persistent challenge for corrections systems across the country, and Alabama’s prison system has faced particular scrutiny in recent years over drug availability, violence, and staffing shortages inside its facilities. Investigations like the one that led to Friday’s arrests typically originate from intelligence gathered inside facilities — tips from inmates, staff observations, intercepted communications, or patterns identified by narcotics units — that point investigators toward specific individuals suspected of acting as couriers or coordinators for contraband operations on the outside.

Fentanyl in particular has become a central concern for corrections officials nationally, both because of its extreme potency in small quantities and because it can be smuggled in forms that are difficult to detect through conventional screening, including soaked into paper or clothing. The quantities described in this case — more than seven ounces of fentanyl alone — represent an amount capable of supplying a significant number of individual doses, underscoring why investigators treat cases of this scale as trafficking operations rather than isolated personal-use incidents.

A Multi-Agency Response

The joint response by ADOC’s Narcotics Unit, its Law Enforcement Services Division, K-9 handlers, and local police in Alabaster reflects how contraband investigations frequently cross jurisdictional lines. While the suspected destination of the contraband was a state prison facility — placing the case within ADOC’s investigative authority — the actual interdiction took place on a public roadway, requiring cooperation with local law enforcement to execute the stop and process the arrests. That kind of multi-agency coordination has become increasingly common in contraband cases, as investigators work to intercept drugs and other banned items before they ever reach a facility’s perimeter, rather than relying solely on screening at intake points.

Officials have not indicated whether additional arrests are expected as the broader investigation into contraband smuggling at ADOC facilities continues. Cases of this kind often remain open even after an initial arrest, as investigators work to identify other individuals who may have been involved in sourcing, transporting, or coordinating contraband deliveries.

Anyone with information related to contraband smuggling into Alabama correctional facilities is generally encouraged to contact the Alabama Department of Corrections’ Law Enforcement Services Division or local law enforcement.

Alabama’s Broader Fentanyl Crisis

The quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine described in this case reflect a broader trend that has strained Alabama’s corrections and law enforcement systems in recent years: the increasing prevalence of fentanyl in drug supplies that previously consisted primarily of other substances. Fentanyl’s extreme potency — with even small miscalculations in dosage capable of causing fatal overdoses — has made its presence inside prison walls a particular concern for corrections officials nationally, both for the incarcerated population and for staff who risk incidental exposure during searches and interdiction efforts.

Alabama’s prison system has faced sustained scrutiny in recent years from federal investigators and advocacy groups over conditions inside its facilities, including concerns about drug availability, violence, and short staffing. Contraband interdiction efforts like the one that led to the Croskeys’ arrest represent one part of a broader, multi-pronged response that also includes staff training, technology like body scanners at intake, and coordination with outside law enforcement agencies to identify and intercept supply chains before drugs ever reach a facility’s perimeter.

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How Trafficking Charges Differ From Possession

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Under Alabama law, drug trafficking charges are triggered by weight thresholds rather than intent alone, meaning that possessing a quantity of a controlled substance above a specified amount automatically exposes a defendant to trafficking-level charges and their associated mandatory minimum sentences, regardless of whether prosecutors can prove the person intended to distribute the drugs to others. That weight-based framework is designed to give prosecutors a more straightforward path to securing significant sentences in large-quantity cases, without needing to prove a specific distribution scheme to a jury.

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For a case involving the quantities described here — more than seven ounces of fentanyl and more than four and a half ounces of methamphetamine — the weight thresholds involved place the alleged conduct well within Alabama’s most serious trafficking tiers, carrying mandatory minimum prison sentences that can range into the decades depending on the specific substance and quantity involved.

Alabama’s Broader Fentanyl Crisis

The quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine described in this case reflect a broader trend that has strained Alabama’s corrections and law enforcement systems in recent years: the increasing prevalence of fentanyl in drug supplies that previously consisted primarily of other substances. Fentanyl’s extreme potency — with even small miscalculations in dosage capable of causing fatal overdoses — has made its presence inside prison walls a particular concern for corrections officials nationally, both for the incarcerated population and for staff who risk incidental exposure during searches and interdiction efforts.

Alabama’s prison system has faced sustained scrutiny in recent years from federal investigators and advocacy groups over conditions inside its facilities, including concerns about drug availability, violence, and short staffing. Contraband interdiction efforts like the one that led to the Croskeys’ arrest represent one part of a broader, multi-pronged response that also includes staff training, technology like body scanners at intake, and coordination with outside law enforcement agencies to identify and intercept supply chains before drugs ever reach a facility’s perimeter.

\n

How Trafficking Charges Differ From Possession

\n

Under Alabama law, drug trafficking charges are triggered by weight thresholds rather than intent alone, meaning that possessing a quantity of a controlled substance above a specified amount automatically exposes a defendant to trafficking-level charges and their associated mandatory minimum sentences, regardless of whether prosecutors can prove the person intended to distribute the drugs to others. That weight-based framework is designed to give prosecutors a more straightforward path to securing significant sentences in large-quantity cases, without needing to prove a specific distribution scheme to a jury.

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For a case involving the quantities described here — more than seven ounces of fentanyl and more than four and a half ounces of methamphetamine — the weight thresholds involved place the alleged conduct well within Alabama’s most serious trafficking tiers, carrying mandatory minimum prison sentences that can range into the decades depending on the specific substance and quantity involved.

Federal Scrutiny of Alabama’s Prison System

Contraband cases like this one land against the backdrop of years of intense federal scrutiny of Alabama’s prison system. The U.S. Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation into conditions inside Alabama’s men’s prisons, ultimately concluding that the state was failing to protect incarcerated people from violence and sexual abuse at the hands of other prisoners, in part because of chronic overcrowding, understaffing, and the widespread availability of drugs and weapons inside facilities. That investigation led the department to file a civil lawsuit against the state, arguing that conditions inside Alabama’s prisons violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. That federal litigation has continued to shape how ADOC allocates resources and attention, placing an unusual degree of outside pressure on the department to demonstrate progress on exactly the kinds of problems highlighted by cases like the Croskeys’ arrest — drug trafficking into facilities that investigators have already flagged as dangerously under-resourced. Corrections officials in Alabama and nationally have consistently pointed to contraband interdiction, including traffic stops built on inside intelligence like the one described in this case, as one of the more visible tools available to demonstrate that a department is actively working to curb the flow of drugs and weapons rather than simply reacting to violence after it occurs.

Why Suboxone Shows Up on Prison Contraband Lists

Among the substances investigators say they recovered, the presence of Suboxone strips alongside fentanyl, methamphetamine, and oxycodone illustrates a complication that runs through prison drug policy nationally. Suboxone, the brand name for a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone, is a medication approved to treat opioid use disorder, and it is widely regarded by addiction medicine specialists as an effective, evidence-based treatment that reduces cravings and withdrawal symptoms without producing the same euphoric high as full opioid agonists. Despite that legitimate medical use, Suboxone remains one of the most commonly smuggled substances into American correctional facilities, prized in the prison economy both by people seeking to manage untreated withdrawal and by others looking to achieve a mild high, particularly because its thin-film strip form is easy to conceal and can be smuggled through mail, visits, or on a person’s body in ways that pills cannot. That dual identity — a legitimate medication in community addiction treatment and a persistent black-market commodity behind bars — has pushed many state corrections systems, including Alabama’s, to expand medication-assisted treatment programs administered directly by medical staff inside facilities, an approach intended to reduce the demand that fuels smuggling by giving incarcerated people with opioid use disorder a legal, supervised path to the same medication rather than leaving them to seek it through contraband.