|
|
| Little found in drug search at N.H. prisons |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/31/2004 |
|
Drug-sniffing dogs searched New Hampshire's four prisons for contraband yesterday, but found little. Seven dogs searched the men's prison in Concord, the state's largest with about 1,400 inmates. Dogs also searched the men's prison in Berlin, the women's prison in Goffstown, and the co-ed Laconia facility, starting around 9 a.m. One "suspicious substance" was found in Laconia, but nothing else had turned up by mid-afternoon, said prison spokesman Jeff Lyons. The inmates and most correctional officers were not notified of the searches beforehand, he said. In Concord, three Belgian malinois and four German shepherds searched the license plate shop, the wood shop, the auto shop, and a truck bringing kitchen supplies into a secure delivery bay, then moved on to some of the cellblocks and a halfway house on the prison grounds. The dogs and their police handlers "tagged" several cupboards and cells that were searched afterward by prison investigators, but no drugs or tobacco were found. Sgt. Neil Smith, of the prison's investigation team, said he wasn't surprised that nothing was found because drugs and cigarettes are usually smuggled in "in very, very small quantities, and ingested very, very quickly." The search was still valuable, however, because the dogs had identified probable hiding places that still carried the scent of drugs or tobacco, he said. Since the prison banned smoking in 1999, tobacco has become the most popular contraband, with name-brand cigarettes going for $5-$10 apiece, Smith said. Vicodin and other prescription narcotics are also sought after. It was the first time dogs have been used to search the prisons, Lyons said. The dog teams were provided by state police; the Plaistow, Milford and Londonderry police; and The Working Dog Foundation, a police dog training school in Portsmouth. The search was one of several measures aimed at cracking down on contraband after three dangerous prisoners escaped last June, using bolt cutters that had been thrown over the fence in the area where inmates learned building trades, such as roofing and framing. An investigation found one of the escapees also was getting tobacco and marijuana over the fence and sold it to finance his escape. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think