A former Alabama prison guard was sentenced Thursday to six years in federal prison after he was charged for attempting to smuggle drugs such as oxycodone, methamphetamine and marijuana into Kilby Correctional Facility last year.

Antwan Dandre Giles, 29, was convicted of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances.

“It is no secret that drugs have become rampant within Alabama’s prison system,” U.S. Attorney Louis Franklin said in a statement. “Unfortunately, sometimes it is the corrections officers, the very people who are supposed to keep contraband out, who are responsible for bringing it in. That’s just the situation we had here. Antwan Giles knew better, and he abused his position of public trust. We hope this six-year prison sentence will send a clear message to other correctional officers.”

Giles was a three-year Alabama Department of Corrections veteran when he entered Kilby on Jan. 22, 2017, carrying food intended for an inmate. According to a Department of Justice release, bringing in food for inmates violated department policy. ADOC agents' suspected he was working with an inmate to smuggle contraband into the prison and searched his vehicle.

"In the vehicle, agents found packages of Suboxone, Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, methamphetamine, marijuana, Xanax and spice that Giles intended to smuggle into the prison," the DoJ release states. "Agents also searched Giles’ home and found several new, in the package, prepaid mobile phones that Giles also intended to smuggle into the prison."

Giles was initially charged with five counts of possession of a controlled substance, trafficking in illegal drugs, promoting prison contraband and possession of marijuana first degree. He was arrested on Jan. 23, 2017, and held under a total $1,565,000 bond.

After Giles' arrest, Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn said his department is stepping up search and surveillance operations to help mitigate the introduction of illegal contraband from sources both inside and outside state prisons.