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| Drug crackdown in prison pays off as usage plunges |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 10/20/2003 |
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The percentage of inmates testing positive for illegal drugs in Ill. prisons has dropped from nearly 10 percent six years ago to 1.2 percent, according to Corrections Department figures. Positive drug tests among officers, parole agents and other employees also have continually dropped since 1998, to below 1 percent for the fiscal year that ended June 30. The plummeting numbers follow a crackdown that began in the mid-1990s with an inmate drug scandal; a zero-tolerance drug policy for employees; and more intensive searches of inmates, visitors and employees, particularly since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In the 1997 fiscal year, 9.5 percent of the 7,100 inmates who were tested came up positive for illegal drugs. In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 1.2 percent of 45,930 inmates tested - virtually everyone in more than 60 state prisons, juvenile centers and work-release programs - had drugs in their systems. The crackdown can trace its roots to the infamous videotapes that surfaced in 1996 showing convicted mass-murderer Richard Speck indulging in sex and what appeared to be drugs seemingly at will. The agency, pushed by the General Assembly, enacted new policies and disciplinary measures to reclaim what many said was a system in which inmates had too many privileges. The number of prison employees testing positive for drug use has dropped significantly, but the 3.4 percent figure in 1998 was well within the average for the American work force, which is about 4 percent, according to drug-testing company Quest Diagnostics Inc. Corrections staff members randomly carry out drug tests on inmates and employees, Corrections spokesman Sergio Molina said. The program cost about $250,000 last year. While testing technology has improved, so have renegade measures to dilute urine samples and other methods to "beat" drug tests, Smith said. But Walker said he is confident his agency's system is solid. Although employee rates were declining before it took effect in January 2001, Corrections Director Roger Walker believes a law under which employees are fired after one positive drug test has contributed to the downturn. Previously, they were suspended after two positive drug tests and fired after a third. |
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