FEDERAL PRISONS FIGHT DRUG SMUGGLING

WASHINGTON -- Using everything from a baby's diaper to burritos, smugglers
regularly get illegal drugs to federal prisoners, even at the
highest-security institutions, Justice Department investigators said Wednesday

Inmate visitors are the major source of drugs. But Justice Department
Inspector General Glen Fine found that mail and prison staff also bring in
marijuana, heroin, cocaine and other drugs at the nation's 102 Bureau of
Prisons facilities, demonstrating a need to upgrade interdiction efforts.

Prison personnel are of particular concern, Fine said, because they tend to
bring in larger amounts that spread to more inmates. There are few
restrictions on personal items prison staff can bring to work, and there is
no program for drug testing or random searches.

"The vast majority of (bureau) employees have high integrity, but a few
corrupt staff can do enormous damage to the safety and security of an
institution," Fine said.

In a written response, Bureau of Prisons Director Kathleen Hawk Sawyer
criticized what she called the "lack of statistical support" for some of
the report's conclusions. She rejected a recommendation that the bureau
begin searching prison staff when they come to work.

"Overall, staff morale will suffer, thereby creating unwarranted concerns
in areas other than drug detection," Sawyer wrote.

Investigators measured inmate drug use several ways:

There were an average of 3,080 inmates who tested positive for drugs each
year from 1997 through 2001, an average rate of about 2 percent nationwide.
High-security prisons had a higher positive drug test rate, at more than 3
percent.

Fifty federal inmates have died of drug overdoses since 1997.

Authorities recorded more than 1,100 drug "finds" in federal prisons since
2000.

There were 34 prison staff arrests on drug cases from 1997 through 2001 and
93 drug-related employee misconduct cases.