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01-24-2003, 10:14 PM
Drugs getting into federal prisons too easily, report says
By Toni Locy, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Federal prisons fail to search visitors adequately and need more security cameras and personnel to thwart drug smuggling to inmates, a report released Wednesday says.
The report by the Justice Department inspector general sheds light on how the use and trafficking of drugs have become significant problems in the federal prison system, whose inmate population has boomed since the 1980s. Drug laws that increased the number of federal crimes and lengthened sentences have raised the number of inmates in the federal system from 24,000 in 1980 to nearly 165,000. (Related story: Prisons packed with almost 165,000)
Drug addiction and a lack of treatment are ongoing problems at the nation's 102 federal prisons, according to the report, which found that visitors, prison staff and the mail are the main ways drugs are getting into the prisons.
From 1997 to 2001, the report said, more than 2,800 inmates tested positive for drugs each year. In 2001, the prisons' overall rate for positive tests was nearly 2%. The results varied among prisons and were as high as nearly 8% at a high-security unit in Beaumont, Texas.
The report said the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) does not provide enough drug treatment because it relies on outdated estimates of inmates with drug problems. The report said the bureau's estimate of 34% is at odds with more recent research that places the percentage at 50% to 80%.
Key avenues for drugs to enter prisons are "contact" visits in which inmates are allowed to touch family members and friends, the report said. Drugs have been passed to inmates through soda cans, babies' diapers and kisses, the report said.
The report said the bureau does not police its employees through random drug testing, despite winning a court case in 1993 that allows such tests. It also said that efforts to find drugs are hurt by the bureau's failure to search prison employees' duffel bags and coolers.
"The vast majority of BOP employees have high integrity, but a few corrupt staff can do enormous damage to the safety and security of an institution," said Glenn Fine, the inspector general.
The report said prisons should:
Perform "pat" searches of visitors.
Buy more surveillance cameras and other equipment to detect drugs.
Use more drug-sniffing dogs. There is only one canine unit in the prison system; it's assigned to the facility in Lewisburg, Pa.
Dan Dunne, a prisons spokesman, said several of the recommendations are being implemented. He said employee drug tests would begin soon. But he said the bureau does not have much money for more staff or equipment. "The bureau has made significant progress to prevent the introduction, possession and use of drugs," he said. "We are doing the best we can with the resources we have."
By Toni Locy, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Federal prisons fail to search visitors adequately and need more security cameras and personnel to thwart drug smuggling to inmates, a report released Wednesday says.
The report by the Justice Department inspector general sheds light on how the use and trafficking of drugs have become significant problems in the federal prison system, whose inmate population has boomed since the 1980s. Drug laws that increased the number of federal crimes and lengthened sentences have raised the number of inmates in the federal system from 24,000 in 1980 to nearly 165,000. (Related story: Prisons packed with almost 165,000)
Drug addiction and a lack of treatment are ongoing problems at the nation's 102 federal prisons, according to the report, which found that visitors, prison staff and the mail are the main ways drugs are getting into the prisons.
From 1997 to 2001, the report said, more than 2,800 inmates tested positive for drugs each year. In 2001, the prisons' overall rate for positive tests was nearly 2%. The results varied among prisons and were as high as nearly 8% at a high-security unit in Beaumont, Texas.
The report said the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) does not provide enough drug treatment because it relies on outdated estimates of inmates with drug problems. The report said the bureau's estimate of 34% is at odds with more recent research that places the percentage at 50% to 80%.
Key avenues for drugs to enter prisons are "contact" visits in which inmates are allowed to touch family members and friends, the report said. Drugs have been passed to inmates through soda cans, babies' diapers and kisses, the report said.
The report said the bureau does not police its employees through random drug testing, despite winning a court case in 1993 that allows such tests. It also said that efforts to find drugs are hurt by the bureau's failure to search prison employees' duffel bags and coolers.
"The vast majority of BOP employees have high integrity, but a few corrupt staff can do enormous damage to the safety and security of an institution," said Glenn Fine, the inspector general.
The report said prisons should:
Perform "pat" searches of visitors.
Buy more surveillance cameras and other equipment to detect drugs.
Use more drug-sniffing dogs. There is only one canine unit in the prison system; it's assigned to the facility in Lewisburg, Pa.
Dan Dunne, a prisons spokesman, said several of the recommendations are being implemented. He said employee drug tests would begin soon. But he said the bureau does not have much money for more staff or equipment. "The bureau has made significant progress to prevent the introduction, possession and use of drugs," he said. "We are doing the best we can with the resources we have."