CRACKDOWN ON DRUGS IN PRISONS

Busts at San Quentin, New Folsom, Ironwood

The drug trade is so cash-flush, dazzling and powerful that there are
always a few prison workers willing to risk their livelihoods and freedom
for some extra spending money - they agree to smuggle heroin and other
drugs into prison.

Now, with the formation of a new internal affairs unit, prison drug
traffickers are on the run.

A major initiative by the California Department of Corrections to clean up
its drug-infested prisons and clear up its tarnished image is beginning to
bear fruit.

The agency's investigators recently cracked a narcotics smuggling ring at
San Quentin Prison whose members allegedly included a prison guard, a
prison cook and a paroled inmate. It has also broken narcotics cases
involving sworn peace officers and other personnel at Ironwood and New
Folsom state prisons.

The internal affairs unit was created in July 1997 in the wake of
allegations that Corcoran State Prison guards had staged gladiator-style
fights among inmates. Headed by former Oakland police officer Rick Ehle,
its staff of 100 includes veteran narcotics agents.

According to grand jury transcripts, internal affairs investigators
penetrated the San Quentin ring in late November with the aid of informants
within and outside the prison.

The suspects smuggled heroin, cocaine and marijuana to an inmate dealer,
and his runners distributed the drugs to the "415" prison gang. Inmates'
families paid for the drug shipments by wiring money to a Western Union
account.

"There is a serious problem of drug trafficking in the prisons," said Dan
Carson, of the legislative analyst's office in Sacramento. "It's a real
concern. And there have been a number of incidents of correctional staff
being part and parcel of the drug trade.

"There's a lot of evidence drugs are finding their way into prison," he
said. "Heroin, meth - just about everything seems to find its way behind
the walls. Whatever is out there is clearly getting inside the joint."

The Department of Corrections estimates that at least 70 percent of the
state prison system's 160,000 inmates have a substance abuse problem of one
kind or another, but it is unclear how many inmates use drugs .in prison
daily.

Tiny capfuls of cocaine usually sell in prison for $20 in cash or $25 in
canteen goods from the prison store, Special Agent Tom Moore told a Contra
Costa County grand jury in December.

Drugs are often traded by inmates for radios, stereos and televisions, and
sometimes traded for sexual favors and to solicit acts of violence against
other inmates, he said.

"Dope in prison is a very lucrative business," Special Agent Mark
Roussopoulos of internal affairs told the grand jury.

Some guards are coerced by inmates into smuggling drugs. Inmates may first
ask a friendly guard to procure insignificant personal items for them, then
later blackmail the guard - who has broken the law by bringing contraband
into the prison - into supplying drugs.

Agents used a sting operation to bust the San Quentin narcotics ring. Three
suspects were arrested on November 22 and 23 in Richmond, after an
undercover agent provided them with drugs that they allegedly agreed to
smuggle into San Quentin.

Correctional Officer April C. Reynolds, 36, of San Francisco, was charged
with two felony counts of heroin trafficking.

Reynolds, a single mother who began working at San Quentin three years ago,
was released this month from the Contra Costa County jail after her bail
was reduced from $40,000 to $5,000. Her arraignment is scheduled today in
Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez. She could not be reached
for comment.

Terry R. Clay, 27, a parolee, was also charged with heroin trafficking. He
had been released from San Quentin the day before his arrest.

Sherwood Dwayne Coleman, 25, of Hercules - a supervising cook at San
Quentin - was charged with cocaine trafficking. He was arrested in Richmond
after an undercover agent provided him with a packet of cocaine to smuggle
into the prison. His trial is scheduled for February 22. Coleman was
unavailable for comment.

In December, at Ironwood State Prison near Blythe in Riverside County,
agents arrested Correctional Officer Richard Melendez, 28. In July, another
San Quentin cook, fDaniel O'Callaghan, 27, was arrested when he allegedly
tried to smuggle methamphetamine into the prison.

In May, agents arrested Correctional Officer Michael Laurin, 54, at the
California State Prison, Sacramento - also known as New Folsom. Laurin
allegedly bought a pound of marijuana from inmates' relatives who were
working undercover for agents.

State officials have begun a pilot project to crack down on drug smuggling
at two institutions: Cali.fornia State Prison, Solano (in Vaca

ville) and the Central California Women's facility in Chowchilla. Guard
dogs and high-tech equipment such as ion detectors that can detect small
traces of narcotics are being used to screen visitors and inmates. Inmates
and new prison employees are being subjected to random searches and random
drug testing. A collective bargaining agreement forbids random drug tests
of existing staff.

In addition, the prison system is expanding its substance abuse program -
with plans to add 2,000 drug treatment beds in the prisons and 1,000 beds
in residential treatment centers. There are now 3,000 drug treatment beds
in the prisons. Early results show that the program improves the recidivism
rate of parolees and also helps reduce drug usage inside prison.

Internal affairs began investigating Reynolds in July at the request of
Arthur Calderon, San Quentin's warden. A prison official had overheard
inmates discussing how the female prison guard was supplying drugs to the
"415" gang, which is composed of inmates from the Bay Area.

An informant also told officials

that inmate Navarro Van Hook was dealing heroin that he received from
prison employees. Van Hook was paroled as scheduled on January 2 in return
for his informing on Reynolds. His wife, Earline Whitmore, who arranged for
Reynolds to bring "black tar" heroin into the prison, received immunity
from prosecution in return for her testimony.

Agents used Whitmore to set up a meeting with Reynolds, who allegedly
agreed to smuggle a shipment of heroin in return for $500. Reynolds and
Clay were arrested November 22 at a gas station in Richmond after an agent
wearing a body wire gave them 22 grams of heroin to smuggle into San Quentin.

The next evening, Coleman was arrested after Whitmore lured him to a
shopping mall in Richmond, where an undercover agent provided him with an
ounce of cocaine to smuggle into the prison.

Coleman told agents that he had smuggled drugs on three prior occasions to
the prison's main kitchen, where Van Hook worked as an inmate in the
sandwich room.