A 39-year-old man has received a prison term of more than 21 years for conspiring with others to deal methamphetamine while in a Minnesota state prison.

Robert E. Maloney Jr., of St. Cloud, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis after a jury found him guilty in April of plotting with two others to distribute meth between February and April 2019. Maloney was serving a sentence in Lino Lakes prison for terroristic threats.

Along with 21 years and 10 months in prison, the sentence from Judge David Doty included five years of supervision after his release.

Prosecutors said that Maloney communicated with his co-conspirators via jail calls to people outside prison walls. Recordings of those conversations revealed that he arranged meetings and discussed meth prices and quantities for sale, according to court records.

In a court filing prior to sentencing, prosecutors argued for Maloney to receive a prison term topping 33 years, pointing out that he was responsible for moving more than 25 pounds of meth.

"While the defendant was supposed to be rehabilitating himself, he was helping ruin, more generally, the lives of all Minnesotans who struggle with methamphetamine addiction," the prosecution filing read.

Prosecutors also noted that Maloney mouthed a vulgarity "to his co-conspirator [Sara R. Lahr] as she testified. The defendant showed he has no respect for this court nor the law. … He has no remorse."

Maloney has previous felony convictions for second-degree assault, when he beat his victim with a pipe, and terroristic threats for threatening his former girlfriend with a weapon, according to court records.

Co-defendants Senif J. Garza, 26, of St. Peter, Minn., and Lahr, 40, of Paynesville, Minn., were charged with the same offense in federal court, and both pleaded guilty. Garza was sentenced to five years in prison. Lahr was given credit for time served after her arrest and placed on three years' supervised release.