Former North Dakota prison guard pleads guilty to delivering drugs to inmate

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A former North Dakota State Penitentiary guard pleaded guilty Tuesday (March 1, 2022) to delivering a cellphone and methamphetamine to an inmate in return for money. Thirty-nine-year-old Matthew Taylor, of Mandan, faces the possibility of 20 years in prison on a charge of delivering drugs at a correctional facility, the most serious of the two counts against him. The North Dakota Highway Patrol began an investigation in November 2020. Taylor was working as a correctional officer at the penitentiary in Bismarck from March to November of that year. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says Taylor was fired after the investigation was completed.