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Inmate who calls himself 'motivational speaker for gangsters' indicted for Facebook post from prison

Joe L. Fletcher, 30, a current inmate at the Penitentiary, allegedly used the phone to talk with family members and friends. Then posed a 49-minute Facebook video to his personal page.

ATLANTA — An inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta has been indicted by a federal grand jury after he was caught posting a Facebook video from prison on a contraband phone.

The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia says Joe L. Fletcher, 30, a current inmate at the Penitentiary, used the phone to talk with family members and friends. During the conversations, the Akron, Ohio-native allegedly bragged about having the phone in prison, called himself “a motivational speaker for gangsters,” and also claimed responsibility for a 2010 murder in Ohio.

But on Jan. 27, 2018, Fletcher allegedly posted to his public Facebook page a 49-minute video recording of a phone conversation with family members and friends. The day after the Facebook posting, corrections officers searched Fletcher’s cell and found two concealed cell phones plugged into the ceiling light fixtures.

“This inmate was particularly proud of himself when he posted a lengthy interactive video on his Facebook page that showed him talking on a contraband phone from inside his prison cell,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak. “Prisoners with illegal phones and similar devices inside our prisons pose a serious problem that threatens the safety and security of employees and the public.”

Officials say Fletcher's alleged "braggadocio" could earn him more time.

Fletcher, who had previously been convicted for drug trafficking and the illegal possession of a firearm, had been at USP Atlanta since Jan. 5, 2018. The 30-year-old now faces more charges related to this most recent event, including illegally possessing a communication device inside a federal prison.

This case is being investigated by the FBI.

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