DECLINE IN PRISON DRUG USE HERALDED 62% PLUMMET TIED TO INCREASED TESTING

In the past three years, drug use in state prisons has declined
dramatically and while correction officials give some of the credit to
treatment programs, they say the biggest factor is fear: Massive testing of
inmates has put them at high risk of punishment if they use narcotics.

In an effort that the US Department of Justice calls the best in the
nation, the state Department of Correction reports that positive urine-test
results have declined from 2.3 percent of those tested in 1995 to 0.3
percent in 1997.

''If you test them frequently enough you will force them to break the
habit,'' said Timothy App, assistant deputy commissioner for community
corrections.

He said the department tests inmates both randomly and when they are
suspected of using drugs.

Inmates who test positive are handled on a case-by-case basis, App said.
But he said sanctions may include loss of privileges, such as library
access, canteen use, or visits, or transfer to higher security and, in
extreme cases, referral for treatment and prosecution.

But prisoner advocates say the DOC puts too much emphasis on sanctions and
too little on treatment, especially since up to 80 percent of the state's
11,000 inmates are believed to abuse drugs. They say more can be done to
stop drugs at prison doors.

DOC officials, who have increased testing by nearly 200 percent - from
22,303 in 1995 to 62,417 in 1997 - say there is an inverse relationship
between testing and drug detection.

The number of people caught using drugs tends to drop as the number of
tests goes up, officials say. The DOC detected drugs in 507 inmates in
1995, 261 in 1996 and 192 in 1997. So, in a three-year period, officials
noted a 62 percent plummet.

The program has pleased US Attorney General Janet Reno's office, which
recently called the policy ''exemplary.'' Federal officials invited App to
present the DOC's policies at a conference last fall to help other states
frame their own.

Steven Amos, deputy director of the correction program office in the
Justice Department, said Massachusetts has complied with both mandatory and
recommended policies outlined in President Clinton's prison drug policy
guidelines.

States are required to establish policies that conform to the guidelines by
September in order to remain eligible for federal funding for capital
improvements in prisons.

The DOC received $8,693,941 in 1997, and a total of $9,942,394 since the
grant program was implemented by Congress in 1996, Amos said.

''Massachusetts is far ahead of other agencies,'' Amos said, adding that
North Carolina, New Hampshire, and Ohio prison systems were also commended.

While DOC officials tout their success on the drug front, they admit they
have more work to do to seal the facilities' perimeters, get addicts help,
and keep inmates drug-free.

And Jill Brotman, executive director of the Massachusetts Prison Society, a
prisoner advocacy group, said the DOC's preoccupation with catching drug
users may be misguided. She said placing more energy into lowering demand
for drugs would be a better policy.

''They spend too much money on testing and not enough on programs,''
Brotman said. ''Counseling, mental health, and educational programs provide
people with the wherewithal to lead drug-free lives, not drug testing and
punitive policies.''

App said that corrections officials spent $150,000 on testing last year,
and that they expect to spend $200,000 this year. And Anthony Carnevale, a
DOC spokesman, said the DOC spends just shy of $3 million annually on drug
treatment.

App said that a special drug counseling program, Spectrum, which costs the
DOC $2,166,000 each year, annually treats two sets of 600 inmates in
six-month cycles in 11 facilities. Despite that, Brotman complained of a
treatment backlog, saying far too many inmates are denied help for drug
addictions.

Carnevale said 346 inmates were awaiting slots in the program as of
December. Fully 20 percent of prisoners are incarcerated for drug-related
offenses, data show.

The DOC credits rigorous surveillance, including its telephone monitoring
system, with stemming the supply of drugs more effectively now than in
years past. Nonetheless, drugs still penetrate prison walls.

Last month, two prison guards, Patrick Hymel and Robert Kelly, were
indicted for allegedly bringing heroin and marijuana into prisons, where
drugs can sell for three times their street value. Both men were fired by
the DOC after the charges surfaced. Sometimes, visitors try to deliver
drugs. Last May, David Downey, 66, of Wakefield, was arrested for allegedly
trying to smuggle heroin to his son at MCI-Cedar Junction.

© Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.