In an attempt to reduce drug trafficking, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) began implementing in October what the Associated Press (AP) called “one of the nation’s toughest protocols for access to state prisons.”
The CDCR’s Notice of Change to Regulations (NCR 14-09) says Electronic Drug Detection Equipment, among other technology, will be used “to search persons entering prison institutions.”
A newly proposed regulation (15 CCR 3410.1) will apply to “All persons who are employed by the department, employees of other government agencies, contract employees, contractors and their employees, and volunteers.”
According to the AP, machines are used “similar to those used at some airport checkpoints to select passengers at random for more intensive searches.”
AP reported that the state plans to spend about $30,000 for each of the scanners, which can detect traces of explosive materials. The CDCR, however, will program these devices to scan for traces of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
“Employees who trigger alerts will be subject to pat-down searches to make sure they are not smuggling contraband but would be able to remain dressed,” AP reported. “Visitors and employees caught with drugs would be referred for prosecution.”
An amended regulation (15 CCR 3173.2(c)) will require visitors “to submit to contraband…and/or electronic drug detectors including, but not limited to, ION scanners…”
The AP reported prison advocacy organizations have denounced the use of these machines because of false-positive test results they sometimes provide.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons ended its use of ION-detector hand-swabbing devices six years ago due to complaints of them being unreliable, the AP reported.
The AP report said visitors identified as likely in possession of contraband would be “subject to strip searches, although they could walk away rather than undergo the procedure.”
The California Code of Regulations, Title 15 (updated through January 1, 2014), Section 3173.2(d)(7) covering unclothed body searches, states that, “This procedure may be conducted with the visitor’s consent when there is reasonable suspicion that a visitor is carrying contraband and when no less intrusive means are available to conduct the search.”
“The whole point is to deter and detect trafficking into our prisons,” Dana Simas, CDCR spokesperson, told the AP. “It’s a serious issue.”
“Persons entering and exiting CDCR institutions sometimes employ extraordinary means to try and smuggle drugs and contraband into and out of prisons,” the NCR reads in its Initial Statement of Reasons (ISOR).
The ISOR said drug trafficking and drug use cause many problems in prison. They increase the number of assaults, create power struggles among inmates and forge the “establishment of an underground economy, and staff corruption.”
In June 2013, the CDCR conducted voluntary and random drug testing of 25 percent of the inmate population, according to the ISOR. Twenty-three percent of those who volunteered tested positive, and 30 percent of those randomly selected to voluntarily test declined to do so, even though there were no disciplinary actions taken against inmates testing positive..
CDCR used drug-sniffing dogs that discovered 404 pounds of illicit drugs in 2013, KCRA.com reported. In the first half of 2014, prison officials said, another 29 pounds of drugs were discovered. Since July 1 another 26 pounds have been discovered, most of which was marijuana.
The CDCR (according to the ISOR) recorded more than 4,000 drug-related incidents in 2013. They resulted in 382 arrests of non-inmate attempts to bring drugs into a prison. Ten were CDCR staff, 52 were non-visitors and 320 were visitors.
“Subjecting all employees, including CDCR administrative staff, to random testing creates a safer working environment for our members,” said JeVaughn Baker, spokesperson for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.
“Based on the 2013 drug-related incidents and test results, the department must do more to reduce the availability of and use of drugs in the prison system,” the ISOR said.
The public comment period on proposed regulations closes on Dec. 9, 2014, at 5p.m., according to the CDCR’s Regulation and Policy Management Branch. (See San Quentin News July 2014, p. 6, for more information on proposed regulations.)
