PRISON OFFICIALS RELAX RULES FOR DRUG SCANS OF VISITORS

Those who fail will have a second chance instead of being banned for 30
days.

Visitors to Iowa's prisons are getting a second chance if they flunk
electronic tests intended to check for traces of illegal drugs.

State prison officials, who were bombarded with complaints from the public,
have decided to revise their rules governing use of ion scanning equipment.

People who fail the tests the first time will be allowed to try again, said
Iowa Corrections Director W.L. "Kip" Kautzky. If they pass, they will be
immediately allowed to visit an inmate. Even if someone flunks twice, the
penalties won't be as harsh as under the original rules.

Objective

"As a practical matter, our objective is simple. It is to keep drugs out of
prison. It is not to make visitors miserable," Kautzky said.

When the high-tech ion scanners were introduced throughout Iowa's prison
system several months ago, any visitor testing positive was immediately
ordered to leave. No second tests were permitted.

Prison wardens were swamped with criticism after the scanners reported that
grandmothers, children and other seemingly innocent people had traces of
marijuana, methamphetamine and other drugs on their hands and clothes.
Civil libertarians asked whether people's personal reputations were being
unfairly damaged.

Concerns Remain

The Administrative Rules Review Committee of the Iowa Legislature is
scheduled to consider the revised scanner rules at a Statehouse meeting
today. Randall Wilson, legal director of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union,
said the changes represent "a definite improvement" from earlier rules. He
remains concerned about what prison officials will do with records of
positive tests and whether a person unfairly accused of testing positive
can appeal.

Kautzky said he remains confident about the accuracy of the ion scanners,
which are produced by Ion Track Instruments Inc. of Wilmington, Mass. Only
2 percent among thousands of prison visitors have tested positive for
illegal drugs, and many visitors haven't challenged the findings, he said.

Aiming For Fairness

The corrections chief said he decided to change the policy to ensure
fairness to visitors.

Under the new rules, friends and relatives testing positive twice on a
single day can be banned from regular visits for two days on the first
occasion. The penalty is seven days the second time, 15 days the third time
and 30 days the fourth time.

However, wardens will have discretion to permit no-contact visits
immediately if a visitor fails an ion scanner check, Kautzky said. During a
no-contact visit, an inmate and visitors are separated by a glass or screen
barrier which permits them to talk, but not to touch each other.

Under previous rules, anyone failing a scanner test was immediately banned
from any prison visits for 30 days. After that, only no-contact visits were
permitted for another 90 days.

Kautzky said questions about whether prescription drugs caused a positive
reading will be scientifically scrutinized.

Kautzky said a scientific review concluded that legal prescription drugs
caused a positive reading for Inga Henry, 68, of Audubon. Henry told the
Iowa Board of Corrections last month she was banned from visiting her
grandson at the Clarinda prison after the ion scanning detector showed she
tested positive for LSD. She brought a lab report from a Carroll medical
center that showed she didn't have LSD in her system at the time of her
visit.