Former Camden County jail inmate sentenced to federal prison for providing drugs resulting in fellow inmate's death

BRUNSWICK, GA:  A former inmate at the Camden County Detention Facility has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for providing the drugs resulting in another inmate’s death by overdose.

Joshua Swing, 36, of Kingsland, Ga., was sentenced to 240 months in prison after pleading guilty to Distribution of Fentanyl, said Acting U.S. Attorney David H. Estes. U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood also ordered Swing to pay $12,919.52 in restitution to the family of the victim, and to serve three years of supervised release after completion of his prison sentence. There is no parole in the federal system.

“Overdose deaths in the United States reached an all-time high in the past year, as fentanyl continues to be a growing, deadly threat to users of illicit drugs – particularly highly addictive opioids,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Estes. “It’s especially alarming when this dangerous drug penetrates even inside secure jail walls, in this case killing an inmate who thought he was ingesting heroin.”

The investigation of the case, conducted by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office as an outside agency at the request of the Camden County Sheriff’s Office, began May 17, 2020, when an inmate at the Camden County Detention Facility identified as J.D. was found unresponsive in his cell. He later died, and a subsequent autopsy determined acute fentanyl toxicity as the cause of death. After interviews of other inmates and review of security camera footage, investigators determined Swing sold the fentanyl to J.D.

In his guilty plea, Swing admitted providing the fentanyl to J.D., and agreed to pay restitution to the victim’s family in the amount of J.D.’s funeral expenses. Swing has an extensive criminal record with prior felony drug convictions in state court, and just five days before J.D.’s death Swing had been booked into the Camden County Jail after being arrested on a state charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

The case was investigated by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Josephson and E. Greg Gilluly Jr.