photo by: Kansas Department of Corrections

Jermel Fleming

A Lawrence man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after throwing a package of methamphetamine over a prison wall in Hutchinson, where he had formerly been incarcerated, according to a news release Friday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas.

According to court documents, Jermel Fleming, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of a controlled substance.

In February 2024, Fleming and an accomplice drove to the Hutchinson Correctional Facility, where Fleming threw a package containing a controlled substance over the prison wall, then left. A lab test showed the substance to be approximately 247 grams of pure methamphetamine.

U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser said illegal drugs in correctional facilities posed many dangers.

“Illegal drugs threaten the security of correctional staff and inmates because of the elevated risk of violence and overdoses,” Kriegshauser said in the release. “Offenders caught smuggling contraband into prisons are vehemently prosecuted. If you decide to give drugs to someone who is behind bars, then you are likely to end up in a cell as well.”

Fleming has been convicted of multiple felonies, including several counts of aggravated robbery and kidnapping in Douglas County in 2010 and attempted robbery in 2017.

The 2010 case occurred when Fleming was 18. Prosecutors said Fleming planned a robbery with four juveniles, wore a mask and took a sawed-off shotgun into an apartment in the 900 block of Tennessee Street and demanded money and drugs from a University of Kansas student. A jury convicted Fleming of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery and theft.

He was sentenced to more than seven years in prison in that case with a possibility of early release. At that time, prosecutors said he already had three prior felony convictions.

The 2017 case also involved a home invasion.

Kansas Department of Corrections records indicate that Fleming was last discharged from prison supervision in April 2024. While previously incarcerated in three prisons — first El Dorado, then Lansing and Hutchinson — Fleming racked up more than 140 disciplinary reports for violations including contraband, theft, arson, battery, fighting, having a weapon, having sexually explicit material, misusing state property and more.