Drug Use in Prison and Jail
...rates on a barter system. Cigarettes are used as currency for drug purchases. Many people sell their stereos, clothes, and other possessions to dealers to support their habit. Some will borrow money from family members. People that develop large debts with their dealers run the chance of being beaten or even killed if they fail to pay. Some people that run up a bill see no way out and will check themselves into protective custody. Most of the stabbings and fights that happen are drug-related (Wynn, Jennifer). Services such as tattooing are traded and some prisoners sell themselves for sex and money. Dealers take full advantage of people with drug habits and many times they will work with people known as the “prison pimps”. These pimps will work with the dealer and negotiate sex on behalf of a junkie that has no money to pay for the drugs. When you confine some of the country’s biggest drug dealers and many serious drug users within the same four walls, it shouldn’t be too surprising that they will continue trying to ply their trade (Marron, Kevin). A lot of people who are involved in organized crime have a promising career in a prison sentence. With plenty of cash to buy whatever goods they want, favors from guards, and sex from other prisoners, dealers do well for themselves on the inside. Powerful organized groups that have connections inside and outside of the prison walls usually control the drug trade on the inside. These groups are usually gang affiliated. There are many different gangs within a prison, which ultimately leads to the different gangs trying to control the prisons drug trade. Prison gangs rely heavily on illegal revenue of drug trade within prison walls. Possession of drugs by members of gangs earns them status and affirms their power within their own gang and among other inmates. There was an instance where two different biker gangs committed crimes to get into provincial Bordeaux jail, then engaged in a violent war over control of the prison drug trade. Since the Supreme Court's 1979 Bell v. Wolfish decision, prison officials have had unlimited rights to search prisoners for drugs even to the point of performing rectal cavity searches after closely monitored visits (Eli Lehrer). Prison officials, in recent years, have made an aggressive attempt at cleaning up the prison drug trade. Prisons have proposed banning prisoners from physical contact with visitors if they have been caught with drugs. Unfortunately, if contact with visitors is cut off it hinders the goal of eventually reintegrating prisoners into society by harming relationships the inmates have with their family and other community members. There is a Corrections and Conditional Release Act that requires that prisoners be allowed visits, except in circumstances of safety and security (Marron, Kevin). Drug dealers prefer a calm prison environment to do their business, because when there is too much conflict the prison will put the prisoners on lock down. If the prison goes on lock down it disrupts the drug trafficking. Closed circuit television has been introduced to help with the monitoring of cellblocks. Some correctional facilities have opted to purchase dogs that have been trained by customs agents to detect drugs. These dogs are used for cell searches and visitor areas. If a dog alerts prison guards to a visitor, the visitor will some times be asked for consent to be searched. If a visitor denies the search then they will be asked to leave and will not be allowed any further visits. When drugs are found on inmates is arises many new issues to be dealt with. Depending on the quantity of drugs found the inmate faces a potential for a new sentence. This can range from a minimum of an additional five years to as many as 80 years if they are convicted of the new drug charges. A 2000 Bureau of Justice Statistics study of drug use in local jails showed that about 10 percent of local jail inmates test positive for drugs (Eli Lehrer). Since many states choose not to do drug testing on inmates this study probably under estimates the true percentage of drug use. It is believed that the key to eliminating drugs in prison is the combination of effective security to tackle the supply of drugs and effective treatment to reduce the demand. When the introduction of mandatory drug testing came into play, it was thought that it would discourage drug use for fear of coming out positive; this doesn’t seem to be the case. It seems as though it has diverted those who were smoking marijuana, which can be detected in the body’s system for approximately one month, to injecting heroin, which only stays in the system for 48 hours. This has moved those recreational soft drug users to junkie hard drug users. Random mandatory drug testing is likely to detect only one-third to two-thirds of heroin injectors in prison (Bird, A Graham). The Pennsylvania State Department of Corrections performed 120,000 random urinalysis tests on its 35,000 inmates between 1996 and 1998 and reduced its proportion of prisoners testing positive for drugs from 7.8% to 1.4% (Los Angeles Times). Prison should be a place for people coming off of drugs and not creating a new habit. Drug treatment programs in prison are known to reduce substance use and arrest after release. In a statistical study, 62.2% of state prison inmates and 42.1% of federal inmates reported being regular drug users. (Bernadette Pelissier) These high percentages have been a leading reason for increased funding of prison drug treatment programs. A “get tough” approach, that uses harsh penalties for drug offenders, has been used for approximately two decades and in the long run has proved to do nothing more than increase the prison population and exhaust state budgets. The increased prison population caused the cut back of counseling and educational programs in order to make room for more beds for inmates. The best way to affect the supply of drugs in prison is to reduce the demand for them. The use of drug treatment has become more available and socially acceptable in recent years. People are becoming more aware of how drug treatment is playing a role in the overall fight against drugs. Drug treatment in prison has proven to be effective as an anti-crime program (Butterfield, Fox). Studies have shown that Americans highly prefer giving nonviolent first and second time drug offender’s treatment rather than jail time. Arizona was the first state to pass a referendum that mandates treatment before jail time (Marks, Alexandra). Many states are following this lead in handing out treatment plans instead of long prison terms. Police, prosecutors, and judges are taking previous drug use into account when making an arrest, bringing charges, or passing out sentences. There are still critics of treatment that state more than half of addicts who get help end up using again within a year, and many times the people who need help don’t want it. Some prisoners and authorities say that drug programs are either non-existent or are poorly run and are virtually ineffective. A three-year study was done in Baltimore that provided treatment to all who signed up and, even with the ones that dropped out, there was a significant reduction in substance abuse and risky behavior that could lead to HIV. In this study heroin use was down by 69 percent after 12 months, Cocaine abuse dropped by 43 percent, and there was a 40 percent reduction in arrests (Marks, Alexandra). The overall significance of this study shows that this affects the entire community. Inmates often times refuse to participate in drug treatment programs. California prison officials have worked hard at overcoming inmate resistance to treatment. Nearly 80 percent of inmates resist treatment. Officials have pressured inmates to participate by withholding good-time credits and privileges like family visits from those who refuse to participate in the program. Inmates who resist participation are labeled as C-status, which means they can lose time credits that can cut their sentences by one-third to one-half (Butterfield, Fox). The crowded conditions that exist in the nation’s jails and prisons create an ideal environment for the transmission of contagious diseases (Bick, Joesph). Diseases are more prevalent in jails. Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) may in particular be more common in jail settings than in prisons, as inmates who are sentenced and sent to prison will typically have been in jail long enough to have been diagnosed and treated for some STDs. Rapid turnover and frequent movement of inmates makes jails difficult settings in which to quantify the prevalence of various diseases (Brown, Karl). Many times officials will tend to choose to deal with those medical conditions that are considered urgent, this leaves other chronic illnesses on the way side. Some jail facilities will try and address all of the problems that they can so they don’t filter into their prison system. The following table gives an indication as to the different obstacles that correctional facilities are up against. Table 2: Differences Between Jails and Prisons Jails Prisons Length of Stay Brief; 24 hours to < one year Usually > one year Turnover Rapid Less rapid Population Size Usually small Usually large Communication With Local DOH* Moderate to extensive Low to moderate Screening Priorities Trauma, drug withdrawal, suicide risk, STDs, TB Chronic illnesses (e.g. hypertension, diabetes, lung disease), TB Age Younger Older Staffing Less stable More stable Excerpted from Intake and Evaluation in Prisons and Jails, Clinical Practice in Correctional Medicine, Michael Puisis, D.O. Mosby Incorporated 1998. * Ninth National Survey of HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and Tuberculosis in Correctional Facilities There is a significant rise in HIV/ Aids and Hepatitis in prisons due largely to inmates sharing hypodermic needles to shoot up drugs and unprotected sex between inmates. HIV/Aids in prison in the past has received little attention, but more recently it is prevalent and has also recently been discussed at the international Aids conference that was held in Thailand (Jurgens, Ralf). The adult prison system HIV/Aids epidemic is a serious problem. A study in 1997 showed that there had been at least 4,588 deaths and at that time there were 5,279 cases of Aids among adult prisoners (Turnbull, P.). A recent report by the New York State Department of Health stated that the number of people suffering from HIV/Aids in NYS prisons was approximately 12,151 and is continuing to rise (Day, Ronald). Prison authorities are being pressured by activists to adopt a more proactive public health approach in relation to drug injecting. The majority of infectious diseases are believed to be due to drug injection. 30 percent of a group of inmates that were interviewed, in a study, reported previous use of inje...