Maryland man sentenced after scaling Lewisburg prison fence with contraband
James Hampton-Smith got 15 months after scaling Lewisburg prison’s fence and stashing a backpack of cellphones, vape pens and synthetic marijuana inside.
A Maryland man was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison after climbing the fence at the Lewisburg federal penitentiary and dropping a backpack of contraband inside the perimeter, a breach that put Union County’s best-known correctional facility back under a security spotlight.
James Hampton-Smith, 38, of Aberdeen, Maryland, tried to provide prohibited items to an inmate at United States Penitentiary Lewisburg. Federal prosecutors said the attempt happened around 12:25 a.m. on Aug. 14, 2024, when security officers saw Hampton-Smith climb the prison’s perimeter fence. Officers then used thermal imaging to watch him jump down onto prison grounds and place a backpack in a trash can near the facility’s basketball court.
The backpack contained vape pens, cellphones, cutting tools and synthetic marijuana. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tatum Wilson and Robin Zenzinger prosecuted the case, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the FBI investigated.
The episode hits close to home in Lewisburg because the prison is a major Union County institution, not just a federal facility on paper. The Bureau of Prisons describes Federal Correctional Institution Lewisburg as a medium-security prison with an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp at 2400 Robert F. Miller Drive. The agency lists the total inmate population at 1,020. That makes every fence breach, every hidden package and every contraband recovery a direct operational issue for staff inside the perimeter and a public-safety concern for the community surrounding the prison.
Federal officials have said contraband is one of the greatest threats facing federal institutions, and Hampton-Smith’s case showed how quickly an outside actor can test a prison’s defenses. The method was unusually bold: he did not mail the items or pass them at a gate, he scaled the fence and tried to conceal the bag on the grounds after midnight.
Lewisburg’s security record has also drawn broader scrutiny. A DOJ Office of Inspector General inspection conducted from Feb. 5 to 9, 2024, and released Sept. 26, 2024, identified several serious operational deficiencies at FCI Lewisburg. Together, the fence-climbing case and the later inspection highlight the pressure on prison staff to detect threats early and keep contraband from reaching inmates.
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