South Carolina prison officers on Sunday seized a drone that dropped a package stuffed with steak, crab legs, marijuana and cigarettes into the yard at Lee Correctional Institution, officials said.
The Department of Corrections posted a photo of the haul on X and said staff nabbed the drone and the “holiday” spread before inmates could grab it; investigators are working the case and no arrests have been announced. (RELATED: California Spending Big To Turn Notorious Prison Into Cushy ‘Rehab Center’ With Grocery Store, Podcast Studio)
“I’m guessing the inmates who were expecting the package are crabby,” prisons spokeswoman Chrysti Shain told the Associated Press.
🦀 Seems some folks were planning an early holiday Old Bay crab boil and steak dinner along with their marijuana and cigarettes — all dropped by a drone at Lee CI. #ContrabandChristmas #WeAreCorrections pic.twitter.com/abiQzJgN1r
— S.C. Department of Corrections (@SCDCNews) December 8, 2025
A photo shared by corrections officials shows a raw steak in supermarket wrapping, crab legs with a tin of Old Bay, plastic baggies of marijuana and cartons of cigarettes; the drone was confiscated on the spot, according to the agency’s X post. Using drones to float contraband over fences has become a persistent problem for prisons nationwide. In South Carolina, merely flying a drone near a prison is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail; dropping contraband is a felony carrying as much as 10 years behind bars, the AP reported.
The department’s post suggested someone was angling for an early holiday crab boil and steak dinner — but the feast never happened thanks to sharp-eyed staff at the maximum-security lockup about 60 miles east of Columbia.