An Erie woman had her nursing license revoked after admitting she took contraband into the State Correctional Institution at Albion and later received money from an inmate’s family.
The Pennsylvania Board of Nursing revoked the license of Rachel Smerick, R.N., on June 8 following a hearing. She may not petition to have her license restated for at least five years.
Smerick was working as nurse at SCI Albion in the summer of 2021 when she was approached by an inmate and asked if she would receive custody paperwork from him at her private residence. She provided her mailing address to the inmate, according to documents from the Pennsylvania Department of State’s Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs.
A large yellow envelope containing a smaller, white envelope arrived at Smerick’s house shortly after the conversation. Smerick did not open the smaller envelope and instead took it to the prison and handed it to the inmate.
Smerick later received $200 in her Apple Pay account from an unknown source, according to the documents. It was later determined that the money came from the inmate’s wife.
She asked the inmate about the payment and he confirmed it was for her agreeing to bring him the envelope.
Smerick, who could not be reached for comment, did not return the money and did not inform SCI Albion officials about the transaction, according to the documents.
Another inmate later approached Smerick and asked her to accept his mail at her house. Smerick agreed after the inmate threatened to report the prior transaction.
Smerick delivered a white envelope to the second inmate but did not receive any money, according to the documents. When a third envelope later arrived in her mail, she threw it in the trash.
The second inmate threatened to report Smerick, and she told him to “do that if so inclined,” according to the documents.
Though Smerick said that she didn’t know what was in the white envelopes, she signed a statement saying that the inmates “manipulated me into bringing papers and prepackaged suboxone in the jail SCI-Albion,” according to the documents.
Suboxone is an opioid drug often prescribed to manage withdrawal symptoms from other opioids, such as heroin and fentanyl.
No criminal charges have been filed against Smerick in connection with the incidents. She was dismissed from her job at SCI Albion in December 2023.
Smerick later worked at UPMC Hamot Surgery Center, Erie VAMC
Smerick was hired that month as a per diem employee at the UPMC Hamot Surgery Center and in January 2025 at the Erie Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
She was still working at the surgery center at the time of her license revocation, according to the documents. A message left with the surgery center’s administrator was not returned.
Erie VAMC dismissed Smerick in 2025 after learning about the incidents and following due process, a VA source said. State licensure documents stated that the VA did a background investigation before hiring Smerick and “was aware of the matter at SCI-Albion.”
The hearing examiner originally recommended that Smerick’s license be suspended for at least five years, but the board determined that the proposed “sanction is too lenient for a nurse who engaged in unprofessional conduct by smuggling contraband into the prison where she worked as a nurse.”
The board then revoked Smerick’s nursing license.
Contact David Bruce at dbruce@gannett.com. Follow him on X @ETNBruce.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie woman has nursing license revoked for taking drugs into state prison
Reporting by David Bruce, Erie Times-News / Erie Times-News
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This story was originally published September 18, 2026 at 5:13 AM.