--- title: "Woman Pleads Guilty for Flying Drug- and Porn-Laden Drone Into Prison" description: "An Australian woman has pleaded guilty after being caught flying a drone filled with contraband into a prison yard." date: "2023-09-25" modified: "2023-09-25" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/drone-contraband-prison" categories: - "Drones" - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "contraband" - "drones" - "prisons" - "the digest" --- # Woman Pleads Guilty for Flying Drug- and Porn-Laden Drone Into Prison ![An Australian woman has pleaded guilty after being caught flying a drone filled with contraband into a prison yard.]() *\Image: Mark Newman via Getty Images\* ## Drone Striking Out An Australian woman has pleaded guilty after being caught flying — and crashing — a drone filled with drugs and porn into a prison yard, with the intent to sell it inside. As [*The Guardian* reports](), 27-year-old Cheyenne Anniki Petryszyn pleaded guilty to two counts related to bringing drugs into a correctional facility — $119,000 worth of drugs, Brisbane prosecutors said. She has not, it seems, faced or pleaded guilty to any charges related to the USB drive full of porn that was also aboard the drone she crashed into a Queensland prison yard. The drone purportedly contained 79 strips of Buprenorphine, an opioid painkiller, as well as nearly one gram of meth and, of course, the porn thumb drive. This wasn't Petryszyn's first rodeo attempting to sell drugs in prison, either — [back in 2018](), she was caught selling strips of Subutex, another opioid, while serving a sentence related to drug trafficking. She was, as *The Guardian* notes, on parole for drug charges when she was caught in the drone scheme. ## Global Issue As [*Wired* reported]() last year, using drones to sneak contraband into prisons is on the rise around the world, with the US [Department of Justice]() and Europe's [Interpol]() attempting to crack down on the use of "unmanned aircraft" to sneak everything from drugs and cell phones to wire cutters and [guns]() into correctional facilities around the world. This brave new world of contraband smuggling is, as one expert told *Wired*, exposing the existential threats of prison guardianship itself. "Since the time of castles and moats," Mary-Lou Smulders, the chief marketing officer of the counterdrone company Dedrone, told the magazine, "we’ve had to deal with two-dimensional perimeter protection. We built fences, we built moats, we put guards around the outside." Drones, Smulders said, are a "new threat vector" for prisons "that a 10-year-old can pull out of the box and fly." While the woes of [prison guards]() don't compel much sympathy, it's still pretty horrendous to imagine people using drones to fly drugs and weapons into such places that are already full enough of [violence, danger, and desolation]() **More on drones:** [*Man Arrested for Dropping Chemical Into Swimming Pools Using Drone*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()