RALEIGH – A former officer at Rivers Correctional Institution of Winton will experience life on the other side of the bars.

On Thursday, 28-year-old Rhonda Boyd of Gates County was sentenced by United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan to 20 months imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release, during federal court proceedings in Raleigh.

According to United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker, the investigation revealed that Boyd, while employed as a correctional officer at Rivers Correctional Institution, conspired to commit bribery in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 371.

The evidence showed that for approximately six months in 2011 and 2012, Boyd accepted payments from inmates within the facility in return for smuggling in contraband items such as cell phones and cigarettes.

Boyd and fellow officer Raye Lynn Holley, 50, of Murfreesboro were indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 3, 2012 in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Holley’s case has yet to be completed.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation handled the case with the assistance of the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Hertford County Sheriff’s Office.

Rivers Correctional is a private prison which operates under federal contracts.