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.