Pubdate: Wed, 06 Jun 2007
Source: Valencia County News-Bulletin (NM)
Copyright: 2007 The News-Bulletin
Contact: http://www.news-bulletin.com/site/feedback.html
Website: http://www.news-bulletin.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3704
Author: Clara Garcia, News-Bulletin Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

DRUG PROBLEMS ON RISE SINCE JAIL POLICY CHANGE

Los Lunas Officials at the Valencia County Adult Detention Center in
Los Lunas say that a recent change in policy at the jail has given
inmates easier access to drugs and weapons.

Derek Williams, the facility's director, said the center's policy
regarding strip searches was altered in early February after a
lawsuit was filed against the county charging that an inmate's civil
rights were violated when he was stripped searched.

As a result, Williams distributed a memo to all staff members
advising them that a strip search will only be conducted on incoming
inmates if there is "reasonable belief" that that person may be in
possession of a weapon, narcotic, drug paraphernalia or any other
contraband items.

"You have to have an individual suspicion on every person you strip
search," Williams said. "Just because you're coming into jail and
being housed in general population, that along doesn't give (us) the
right to conduct a strip search."

Some of the instances in which Williams said jail employees can
conduct strip searches on inmates are if an individual was arrested
on a drug offense or for a violent crime. But it's the other people
booked into the facility that cause him the most concern, he said.

"It's those who are coming in on traffic citations, misdemeanor
offenses and probation violations who are the issue," Williams said.
"And those are the people that we can't search."

Williams said he has found that in the past few months -- since the
strip search policy was changed -- that more and more drugs are being
smuggled into the facility. He says that people are intentionally
getting arrested so they can smuggle drugs into the jail.

"It's not uncommon for these people to come in for the specific
purpose of introducing narcotics into the jail," Williams said.

Last week, 25-year-old David Salazar, who was to go on trial this
month on murder charges, was found dead in his cell from what police
and jail officials believe was a drug overdose. Williams said that in
the course of conducting an internal investigation into Salazar's
death, it was determined that someone smuggled in an illegal narcotic
the day before the inmate died.

"We learned that a man who was on probation had pre-arranged with
other inmates in custody here for him to get arrested on a probation
violation and bring drugs into the jail," Williams said. "He was
arrested on a technical violation ... came in for 48 hours and
brought in the drugs that we believe was the source that eventually
killed David Salazar. This inmate was not charged because we didn't
have enough evidence to prosecute."

Williams explained that people on probation are allowed to have three
technical violations before it's considered a full violation. A
person found to have committed a technical violation, which can
include a dirty urine analysis or showing up late for a meeting with
a probation officer, is punished with a 24-to-48-hour stay in the
county jail.

During a search of Salazar's cell after his body was discovered,
Williams said, jail employees did find a plastic spoon with brown
residue. He said the amount of the residue was too small to be tested
and toxicology results from the Office of the Medical Investigator's
Office won't be completed for another six weeks.

According to jail records, a total of 450 people were booked into the
Valencia County Adult Detention Center during the month of May. Of
those, only four people were strip searched after employees
determined that there was "reasonable belief" that the inmates may
have had a weapon or narcotics.

Prior to changing the policy, jail employees would strip search every
inmate who was to be placed in general population, Williams said

One of those inmates, 35-year-old Angela Kelley, who had returned to
the jail after a judge granted her a 11-hour furlough for a doctor's
appointment, was allegedly found with a nine-inch blade and what was
described as a crack pipe in her underwear. Kelley, who was initially
incarcerated on a probation violation, is now charged with bringing
contraband into the jail and is being held on a $5,000 cash or surety
bond.

It's not only inmates who are bringing in drugs into the facility,
Williams said. Janice Giron, a former jail guard from Los Lunas, was
arrested in April on charges of bringing contraband into places of
imprisonment and furnishing drugs or liquor to a prisoner. Her first
appearance in magistrate court in Los Lunas is set for June 15.

According to a criminal complaint, Giron allegedly accepted $100 to
smuggle contraband into the jail but only after an inmate repeatedly
threatened and taunted her.

Giron, who is no longer a jail employee, told investigators that she
brought a sealed cigarette pack into the facility in exchange for the
cash, but didn't know what was inside, the complaint said. An inmate
told police it was heroin and some marijuana joints.

The investigation was initiated after murder suspect Edvard Zamor,
21, was found dead in his cell in early April. His death was
initially thought to be a drug overdose, but an autopsy later
determined he was strangled to death.

Williams said since the strip search policy was changed, numerous
drug-related instances have occurred in the facility including
Salazar's suspected drug overdose. He said at least two inmates have
been found to be hiding a syringe in their bodies; several other
syringes were found in inmates' cells and numerous people have tested
positive for drugs.

As a result of the increased drug activity in the county jail,
Williams requested the assistance of the Central New Mexico
Correctional Facility's Critical Emergency Response Team and its K-9
unit to help conduct a massive search of the inmates' living area
last week. While the organized search didn't turn up more than a
single marijuana cigarette, Williams said it sent a message to those
incarcerated that he will not tolerate drugs in the jail.

"This has been a problem even before this policy was even changed,"
Williams said. "But now that they know it's changed, it's a much
bigger problem. They know what the policy is and they know that if we
violate that policy they have a very good opportunity at a lawsuit.

"The only thing that we can do is keep up the training and making
sure that whenever reasonable suspicion is a factor, we're using that
to justify a strip search," he said. "And when we don't conduct a
strip search, we just need to do as a thorough pat down search as
possible."

Williams said he's also relying on confidential informants to provide
leads and listening to inmate phone calls to help deter drugs from
entering the jail.

"It's one thing to go back and explain to a mother that you're
sympathetic because her son was humiliated because he had to endure a
strip search when he was booked into the jail," Williams said. "But
it's a whole other thing to have to sit there and explain to a
family who lost someone that we couldn't strip search the guy who
came in after and brought in the drugs he overdosed on."