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| Smuggled drugs in prisons targeted |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 08/25/2003 |
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Inmates in Vermont's prisons will start wearing uniforms next month as the administration seeks to combat the amount of drugs smuggled into the facilities in clothing. Gov. James Douglas also announced that Vermont State Police are cooperating with Corrections Department staff to conduct a series of unannounced drug searches of inmates' cells. Additionally, new policies have been put in place about how prescription medications are administered to prisoners, according to Douglas and Corrections Commissioner Steve Gold. 'We're all acutely aware of the substance abuse problem that has developed in Vermont over the past few years,' he said. He became especially concerned about the prisons because there have been three deaths in the corrections system, at least two of them involving drug use. The most visible changes in prisons will be uniforms, which are expected to be blue or green. Gold said difficult-to-find drugs frequently are sewn into the clothes that inmates wear when they walk into prison or into garments that family or friends take to them once they're incarcerated. The uniforms, which will cost about $70,000, will be required of prisoners in the Newport, St. Albans and soon-to-open Springfield facilities first and eventually throughout the system. Part of the effort to make the prisons safer will involve searching inmates' cells when intelligence suggests there might be illegal drug use or possession. State Police, who will be paid overtime instead of being diverted from their daily duties, will accompany Corrections Department staff on the raids, although Gold said the searches would not be random. 'We will not be conducting any searches that we cannot justify,' he said. 'We're not intending them to be random. We're not intending to go in and, as they say, 'toss the whole facility.'' Inmates will continue to be tested for drugs and the state intends to hire a contractor to be in charge of the laboratory screening to ensure better quality control. There are about 3,600 urine screenings conducted now among the roughly 1,460 people in the state's prisons, Gold said. New policies also are being implemented that will require Corrections Department officials to observe every dose of prescription medication that's administered and to make sure it is swallowed so it cannot be stockpiled. |
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