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| Overdose Prompts Review of Minn. Prison Policies |
| By Minneapolis Star Tribune |
| Published: 03/03/2003 |
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Prison policies will be reviewed after murder charges were filed against an officer accused of smuggling heroin into the Stillwater prison, where an inmate died of an overdose, said Corrections Commissioner Joan Fabian. 'A tragic situation like this should never have happened,' Fabian said. She said she would call the state's prison wardens together to assess possible changes. Fabian said she is considering ways of searching officers when they report to work and providing more mentoring and training. Also under consideration are better background checks for prospective prison employees, she said. Prisons already check purses, duffels or packages brought to work by officers, she said. A review will be made of security techniques used in prisons elsewhere. Drug-sniffing dogs check incoming prison staff members in some states, she said. There is no evidence that any current policies were violated in the way the officer was checked the day he allegedly brought heroin to the prison, Fabian said. Fabian said she thinks the Sept. 18 death of Spencer Robinson, 38, is the state's first inmate death caused by drugs smuggled into a prison by an officer. Officer Anthony Pitchford, 35, has been charged in Washington County District Court with third-degree murder. The incident has been tough for other correctional officers, Fabian said. She said 99 percent of them are honest professionals who 'get tempted every day.' Ever since state prisons cracked down on visitors, officers have been facing extraordinary pressure to break the law and bring in cigarettes, drugs and other kinds of contraband, Fabian said. Corrections Department records in the past five years show three other cases, all at the Stillwater prison, of investigations of alleged smuggling by officers, said spokeswoman Shari Burt. The charges against Pitchford say prison surveillance cameras and cell phone records helped trace 7 grams of heroin from Detroit to a man who gave the black-taped package to Pitchford in Minneapolis. Pitchford allegedly dropped it in the cell of an inmate who passed it to Robinson. Robinson, who was in prison for murder, was found dead in his cell Sept. 18 with heroin and cocaine nearby. The county attorney said he didn't know whether further charges will be filed against the other men involved. Ramsey and Hennepin county attorneys said the third-degree murder statute is rarely used, because it is tough to link the victim to the drug source. Ramsey County prosecutors could recall no such cases. Hennepin County had one in 1989. |
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