The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) continues to struggle in its effort to stop the introduction of contraband inside its 35 prisons.

In a recently released Notice of Change to Regulations (NCR 20-01), the Department’s Regulation and Policy Management Branch stated, “Current strategies have been effective overall,” but CDCR still expects that it will expand its search methods.

“ION scanners and low-dose, full-body x-ray scanners as supplemental inmate search options will increase the Department’s ability to discover illegal drugs and contraband that are being introduced into and throughout the institutions,” the NCR’s Initial Statement of Reasons stated.

The CDCR is proposing to amend the California Code of Regulations, Title 15, Section 3287, which governs inspection of property and inmate body searches. It will include ION scanners as search options, according to the NCR.

The NCR stated that the existence and use of contraband inside the state prison system causes death, damages rehabilitation efforts, and facilitates criminal activity within the institutions and the community.

“Without the use of the many layers of interdiction devices and strategies available, inmates will continue to die from drug overdoses,” the NCR said, adding, “Staff and visitors will continue to be compromised by being pressured by inmates to smuggle illegal drugs and contraband into the institutions.”

To underscore its point about contraband, deaths and prosecutions for these crimes, the CDCR released some of its most recent numbers on its findings below:

Type of Contraband Discovered                 2017                            2018

Cellular Telephones                                       13,195 phones             11,715 Phs

Heroin                                                             28.83 pounds              30. 8 pounds

Marijuana                                                       91.77 pounds              131.9 pounds

Methamphetamines                                      43.55 pounds              44.22 pounds

Tobacco                                                          635.8 pounds              527.9 pounds

Data obtained from CDCR’s Office of Research.

Year    Overdoses Resulting In Death

2016    28

2017    39

2018    61

Total   128

Data obtained from California Correctional Health Care Services, Medical Services Division.

Number of People  Prosecuted for Attempting to Introduce Drugs, Alcohol, or Contraband

Fiscal Year     Staff    Visitors           Non-Visitors  Totals

2014-15           6          211                  51                    268

2015-16           7          224                  51                    282

2016-17           9          221                  32                    262

2017-18           4          269                  57                    330

Totals             26        925                  191                  1142

Data obtained from CDCR’s Office of Research.

The importing, trafficking and use of illegal drugs and contraband pose many problems in an institution setting, including an increase in inmate violence, power struggles within the inmate population, the establishment of an underground economy, staff corruption, and inmate death due to overdose.