Three officers and two inmates at the Luzerne County, Pa prison, the scene of a daring double escape last week, were charged Thursday in a drug smuggling probe.

The undercover police sting had been under way for several months and did not stem from the three-day manhunt for murder suspect Hugo Selenski, officials said. "They had today set as the target day ... long before Hugo escaped," said Carol Crane, a spokeswoman for District Attorney David Lupas.

Correctional officers Shawn P. Cunningham, 34, of Swoyersville, Peter J. Achey, 45, of Wilkes-Barre, and George E. Mason, 38, of Mountain Top, were charged with bribery, delivery of a contraband and related charges.

They allegedly took payments from a confidential state police informant to deliver marijuana to inmates at the prison in Wilkes-Barre last month. Mason also asked the informant for an insurance sticker for his uninsured vehicle, the police affidavit said.

Each was being held on $100,000 bail, with preliminary hearings scheduled for Oct. 22. Inmates Michael F. Ceccarelli, 28, and Tammi Ann English, 25, were charged with receiving marijuana at the prison, and English is charged with trying to escape from a hospital gurney.