OCALA — A correctional officer at the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Sumter County has been sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for accepting a $3,000 bribe to smuggle tobacco into the facility for an inmate, U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced.
Michael Jason Brooks, 37, of Citra, pleaded guilty on Nov. 12, 2025, to receiving a bribe as a public official and providing contraband to a federal inmate. U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber imposed the sentence.
According to court records, Brooks was employed by the Bureau of Prisons as a correctional officer at the Coleman complex when he knowingly and corruptly sought and agreed to accept the $3,000 payment in exchange for smuggling 177.1 grams of loose tobacco into the prison. Federal inmates are prohibited from obtaining or possessing tobacco, which is classified as contraband.
The Coleman Federal Correctional Complex, located in Sumter County, is one of the largest federal prison facilities in the country. Corruption cases involving correctional staff undermine institutional security and put both inmates and officers at risk — a point federal prosecutors have pressed in similar cases across Florida’s Middle District.
The U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Prisons investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Hannah Nowalk Watson prosecuted Brooks in the Middle District of Florida.