INMATES USED DRUGS TESTING KIT TO OUTWIT PRISON AUTHORITIES

THE CENTRAL Prison authorities launched an investigation this week
after three drugs tests were found in an inmate's prison cell.

Apparently the tests had been used by unknown convicts to carry out
experiments on their own urine samples. Prison officials suspect the
idea behind these experiments was to give convicts a better
understanding of how the tests worked so that they could dupe prison
authorities regarding their drug use.

The find was yesterday confirmed by a source inside the prisons.

According to the source the tests were found three or four days ago in
the cell of an inmate who had only recently been incarcerated and had
denied the tests were his.

The source explained the tests were used to screen inmates for drugs
in their urine.

By law prison authorities had the right to order convicts to take a
drugs test, he said.

Inmates who refused to give a urine sample were punished twice as much
as inmates who consented to the test and came back positive for drugs,
he added.

"Sometimes inmates try and trick the test. They'll get a urine sample
from an inmate who doesn't use drugs and put it in a bag and then
place it in their genitals. When they're asked to give a sample they
pretend to give their own urine but they are actually filling it with
the clean sample. If they aren't properly checked before giving the
test they get away with it," he said.

In this case it appeared the inmates were trying out a new method of
evasion.

"It seems they were trying to see what sort of drugs the test picks up
on and how many days they have so that the drugs don't show up in
their urine. They make cocktails of drugs you see, combining Valium
and other drugs, and they probably wanted to see what could and
couldn't be picked up by the test," the source said.

"Somehow they got their hands on the tests which are ones used by the
service. I don't know that they are readily available on the open
market which means that they most likely managed to steal them [from
the prisons], which is also under investigation," he said.

Under ordinary circumstances the inmate where the tests were found
should have been placed into isolation pending the conclusion of the
investigation, he said. Nevertheless because the specific innate was
new to the prison and had denied any knowledge of the tests, it was
likely the tests belonged to the cell's previous occupants.

"Who the tests belonged to is still under investigation at this stage
and how they got their hands on the tests," the source said.

The convict or convicts found responsible for the tests would be
punished, he said. This could include losing days from his remission
or the loss of certain privileges, he added.

"From 100 days that he might have been pardoned, he'll lose 15 for
example," he said.