JUSTICE AGENCY PROBES HOW DRUGS BREAK INTO PRISONS

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 A. 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 statement accompanying his report.

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.

Visitors often use the cover of crowded visitation rooms to pass drugs when
hugging or kissing an inmate. The report also cited cases where drugs were
smuggled in a baby's diapers, in body cavities and in food brought to the
prison or purchased at a prison vending machine.

At one prison, a so-called "burrito caper" occurred in which a visitor
smuggled in a burrito filled with balloons of heroin, bought an identical
one at a prison vending machine and then switched the two with the inmate.

The report recommended greater use of pat searches of visitors, better use
of staff and camera monitoring, and restriction of contact visits for some
inmates.

Sawyer agreed with some of the recommendations but said regular inmate
visitation by family members is "important for maintaining social and
family ties" that help the offender cope with prison life and adjust to
society when released.

Regarding inmate mail, the report found some prisons handle thousands of
pieces of mail every day, making manual inspection of each item impossible.
Recommendations include elimination of unsolicited mail, better staff
training for drug detection and testing of better technology that would
allow inspection of more pieces.

The report also made numerous recommendations for improving drug treatment
of inmates to reduce the demand for drugs, including an increase in staff
for the programs. Sawyer said that would entail hiring 200 more people at a
cost of more than $13.4 million, which Congress has not approved.

On the Net: Justice inspector general: http://www.usdoj.gov/oig Bureau of
Prisons: http://www.bop.gov