North Rhine-Westphalia has imposed immediate bag searches on staff at every prison in the state after investigators uncovered an alleged operation in which guards smuggled drugs and mobile phones to inmates for payment.
Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach ordered a special audit of Rheinbach prison and will brief the state parliament's legal affairs committee on Wednesday. Police searched the facility and eight homes across North Rhine-Westphalia and neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate on Tuesday. The probe targets five men and three women aged 28 to 59 suspected of bribery, along with current and former inmates.
The investigations trace back to complaints filed by the prison's own management. The scandal is the second to hit the state's corrections system in recent months, following a similar raid at Euskirchen prison in May.