Utah's Prison Has Less Drugs Than the National Average

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By Salt Lake Tribune

Published: 05/30/2003

Although the Utah State Prison's drug problem is smaller than the national average, drugs are present in prison despite efforts by the Department of Corrections to detect and remove them, an official told lawmakers recently.
'[Inmates] don't stop becoming criminals when they pass through our front gate,' Scott Carver, director of Corrections' Division of Institutional Operations, told members of the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee.
Of 19,575 urine samples tested at the prison last year, 209, or slightly more than 1 percent, tested positive, Carver said. The national average for correctional facilities is more than 3 percent, he said.
'That does not indicate it is not a problem,' he said. 'What it does indicate is that our efforts are having a positive result.'
Drugs are introduced into the prison in a variety of ways, Carver said. The most common is through contact visits. Drugs have also been tossed over the fence into prison sites. Envelopes are soaked in methamphetamine and mailed.
The number-one illicit drug in prison is tobacco, he said. A pack of cigarettes can sell for as much as $60 in prison.

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