DRUGS IN PRISON ARE MAJOR SECURITY THREATS

New York State Court of Appeals judges recently made an ignorant and
short-sighted ruling that a small amount of marijuana in prison is not
considered dangerous contraband, and reduced the sentences of both
inmates and visitors caught introducing contraband into state
correction facilities.

Contrary to the court's ruling, any illegal substance smuggled into a
correctional facility is dangerous and causes major security, death or
injury threats to both staff and inmates. This is a court creating the
law rather than merely interpreting what legislatures enacted.

As the courts and legislatures slip back into this period of liberal
ideologies of law and penology, a slippery slope emerges. Inmates are
not held accountable for their actions, as the need to sell drugs in
prison is more important than rehabilitation to a nefarious population
in need of programming. There is little consequence for visitors to
correctional facilities who choose to smuggle contraband to inmates.

The biggest caveat to this ruling is how to deal with employees who
attempt to smuggle contraband into facilities; employees can be
charged only with a misdemeanor and not necessarily lose their jobs or
face major consequences.

Contrary to a News story, drugs do not flow like wine in prison. Most
substances come from visitors and packages that inmates receive from
the outside. If one thinks about the logic, it is more difficult to
get drugs into a prison, therefore, the risk/price ratio goes up and
the cost is 10 times higher than street-level value.

However, the cost is not only monetary; drugs wreak havoc on the
correctional facilities. Illegal drugs in prison have caused
disturbances that resulted in injury and death for correctional
officers and inmates. Major disturbances have been caused because of
gangs that vie for control of the drug trade in correctional
facilities. Inmates who do not share ill-gotten gains may be assaulted
or killed due to the scarcity of drugs.

The few employees who choose to enter into criminal activity cause a
major threat to security for officers and civilians as the lines blur
between the criminal and the respectable.

Most correctional agencies around the nation check the inmates' bodies
after visits to discourage introduction of contraband into facilities.
Many others use drug-sniffing dogs to check the living areas of
inmates and to inspect visitors for drugs; states that use these
antidrug tools have a noticeable decline of drug activity in prison.
To inspect visitors via drug-sniffing dogs is a commonsense approach
that facilitates safety, security and rehabilitation in the
correctional environment.

In this age of downsizing police and correctional agencies, it is
incumbent upon administrators to use proactive tools to prevent
criminal activity. The most preventable deterrents include harsh
penalties for violators and proactive, anti-drug pursuits.