DRUG TRAFFICKING IS PROBED AT LEHIGH COUNTY PRISON

Heroin Overdose Is Suspected In Hospitalization Of An Inmate

The warden of the Lehigh County Prison said investigators are looking into
heroin use inside a cellblock that sent at least one inmate to the hospital
and possibly killed another.

State police used drug-sniffing dogs to search a 48-unit section of the
prison for illegal drugs after a heroin overdose sent an inmate to the
hospital for a couple of hours Sunday.

Police locked down the unit while doing the search, during which they found
no drugs.

The heroin overdose follows the death of Michael W. Walwanis of
Schnecksville, who died after being found unresponsive in his bed about
9:45 p.m. Friday in that prison unit.

The Lehigh County coroner's office has not determined the cause of
Walwanis' death. But Lehigh County Prison Warden Ed Sweeney noted that
Walwanis, who lived in the same unit as Sunday's overdose victim, had a
background with heroin.

On the morning of the day he died, Walwanis pleaded guilty to third- degree
murder in the death of a 20-year-old who had died from an overdose of
heroin that Walwanis had supplied to him.

Still, Walwanis had other health problems, Sweeney noted.

Sweeney said county authorities "have information" on when and how heroin
was smuggled in the prison and are working to file charges.

"The introduction of contraband into a prison is a very serious matter,"
Sweeney said.

Sweeney said no Department of Corrections employee has been implicated.

In September of 2000, a prison guard discovered inmate Brian Dos Santos
dead of a heroin overdose in his cell.

The drug was allegedly smuggled to him by his girlfriend, Elayne Nicole
Zielinski. She has been charged with his death.