A Florida correctional officer has been sentenced to prison.
Michael Jason Brooks, 37, of Citra in Marion County, Florida, was sentenced by United States District Judge Thomas P. Barber to one year and one day in federal prison for accepting a bribe as a public officer and giving contraband to a federal inmate.
According to court records, Brooks began working as a correctional officer at the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Sumter County on June 12, 2024, for the United States Department of Justice’s Bureau of Prisons. He knowingly and corruptly solicited and agreed to take a $3,000 bribe in exchange for smuggling 177.1 grams of loose tobacco into a federal prison for an inmate.
Tobacco is considered contraband in jail thus, federal offenders are not permitted to obtain or possess it.
The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons investigated the Florida case. Hannah Nowalk Watson, an assistant US attorney, prosecuted the case.
Brooks pleaded guilty on November 12, 2025. US Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
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