GUARDS ASSISTING DRUG RINGS AT PRISONS?

State Correction Chief Says There's 'Conspiracy'

NASHVILLE - A "conspiracy" among prison guards to smuggle drugs and
cell phones to inmates is leading to sophisticated jailhouse drug
rings, the Department of Correction commissioner said Tuesday during a
legislative hearing.

Prison guards earning little more than $20,000 a year are being
coerced to traffic drugs and, worse yet, authorities suspect that
outside gang members have been able to infiltrate the system as
guards, officials said.

One lawmaker said the drug rings stretch far beyond prison walls.

The testimony prompted a legislative committee to delay the Correction
Department's budget, saying it wants to look more into the issue.

Agency Commissioner Quenton White said drug smuggling into prisons is
increasing, something that would be nearly impossible without the help
of prison employees.

Recently, 60 to 70 cell phones were confiscated from inmates in a
three-month period at one state prison in West Tennessee, he said. The
cell phones are used to coordinate much of the smuggling, officials
said.

"It has grown to such a degree that it has obviously risen to some
sort of conspiracy among the employees," he told the Senate State and
Local Government Committee.

And he said "it would have to be the case" that gang members are being
hired as prison guards.

"They at least have sympathizers to some degree," he said.

Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson, who said he doesn't think enough is
being done to root out the drug smuggling, believes part of the
problem could be caused by the low prison guard pay and resulting
turnover in staff.

Jackson said Gov. Phil Bredesen needs to look at the budget again and
put some money into the problem.

"If we know it's taking place, and we turn a blind eye, I don't how we
characterize that," Jackson said. "Understand, these people behind the
prison walls are running drug rings on the outside of the prison walls
using cell phones. They are part of the drug racketeering that takes
place in the communities we live in."

The Correction Department budget has decreased in the last 10 years,
leaving it strapped for resources, officials said.

Even as the agency struggles with a tight budget, it is being forced
to funnel more money to private companies that run a few of the
state's prisons under contracts specifying inflationary increases.

White, who said fewer than a dozen guards were caught smuggling
contraband last year, said he has started working with the Tennessee
Bureau of Investigation to get to the bottom of the issue.

White cautioned that he believes only a small number of prison guards
are involved.