No criminal charges will be filed against Vermont Department of Corrections staff or an inmate who was allowed to dispose of heroin she had smuggled into the state prison in Windsor, prosecutors said yesterday. The offices of the attorney general and the Windsor County state's attorney said there wasn't enough evidence to prove any charges.

The case involved a woman who was arrested on a parole violation on Dec. 5, 2005, and taken to the women's facility in Windsor. The prison superintendent received a tip that the woman was concealing a large amount of heroin in her body.

The superintendent wanted to transfer the female inmate to the Springfield prison so she could be monitored in a special cell while the drugs were removed. But Corrections Facilities Executive Robert Kupec denied the request because the Springfield prison houses only men.

Kupec then proposed to the superintendent that the woman be offered immunity if she removed drugs and flushed them down the toilet, which she did, in the presence of a female correctional officer. Prosecutors said Kupec and the superintendent never contacted police about the possibility of drugs or plans to destroy them and did not have authority to promise immunity.

"Although it was clear from the investigation that the intent behind the actions of Kupec and other DOC staff was not criminal in nature, but rather out of concern for inmate safety and to prevent the heroin from entering the general prison population, the way in which they handled the matter was simply wrong and unacceptable," Attorney General William Sorrell said.