The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will train two dogs to detect alcohol brewed illegally in California county jails, thanks in part to a $20,000 state grant approved by the county Board of Supervisors last week.
The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department grant will bolster a $60,000 allotment from the Sheriff's Department's Inmate Welfare Commission, and is part of an effort to crack down on jailhouse moonshine, known as "pruno," that is made from fermented fruit and other items. The money will be used to purchase and train the dogs, and to train two deputies to become their handlers.
It appears to be the first time dogs have been used to find alcohol in jails anywhere in the nation, said Sgt. Daman Christensen, who has been heavily involved in planning the program.
"We regularly find pruno whenever we do jail searches -- it's a substantial issue," he said. "The dogs can help us find the pruno before the inmates ingest it."
The "pruno puppies," as they have been christened, have not yet been chosen and might not even be puppies, Christensen said. Breeds ranging from Labradors to beagles can all make good scent-detection dogs, and depending on what dogs are available when the program begins, the department could end up with a puppy from a city pound or a 2-year-old already trained to search for narcotics, Christensen said.
A sheriff's deputy proposed the idea more than a year ago after jail officials concluded that pruno intoxication was a significant cause of disturbances among inmates -- and one of the simplest to target.
Nevertheless, detecting pruno is not without its challenges. Christensen said the inmates make alcohol in their cells by hiding fruit and other ingredients in plastic bags or bottles and letting it ferment.
The result is a "rancid" but alcoholic concoction that smells like rotten fruit, he said.
"We feed our inmates in the cells, so they're able to keep things like bread and fruit, the things they need to produce the pruno, and all those items are required for their nutrition by law," he explained. "It's not like we can just eliminate the fruit from their diet.”
The department hopes to get more dogs eventually and "cross-train" them to do double duty searching for alcohol and drugs. But it won't be cheap.
At $5,000 to $10,000 per dog and $4,000 for alcohol training, plus the cost of dog carriers, cars to transport the carriers and permanent kennels where the dogs can live -- not to mention dog toys, collars, vet bills and, of course, food -- the program is expected to cost at least $60,000 in its first year, Christensen said.
Still, the two dogs will be able to make a complete inspection of the jails every few weeks, he said -- even with time out to play and sleep.
"They need to have a break or they'll burn out," Christensen said. "You can't have the dogs sniffing alcohol and narcotics all day."