Drugs Within Prisons

It is a crime to posses, use, distribute or manufacture a controlled substance, as defined by California’s Business and Profession Code section 4021. Much of those in prison population were convicted on drug related charges, and many of these offenders continue to use while incarcerated. According to an article in The Washington Times, “Drugs Inside Prison Walls,” one thousand “drug incidents” are reported annually in  California prisons, as well as forty-four inmate deaths in the state due to drug overdoses between the years of 2006 and 2008. Prisons have implemented anti-contraband strategies, yet, as stated by The Washington Times, 1,132 random drug test in 2008 and 2009  had positive results. Despite these strategies, in the past year 2,832 grams of marijuana and ninety-two grams of cocaine were seized in American prisons.  

Drugs are smuggled into prisons in many different ways. One of them being by corrupted Correctional Officers. The corrupt staff members are a contributing factor to drug abuse in prison. According to The Washington Post, a wellness education officer, Richard Pillajo, at a Florida state prison was recently arrested for planning to smuggle in cocaine, marijuana and hydrocodone pills into the prison to inmates in exchange for $2,500. Officer Pillajo is not the only officer corrupted in the prison system. In some states the salary of correctional officers are being amped up in order to compete with the drug trade. 

Drugs will not be flushed out of prisons when those who are supposed to enforce the law, are the very ones helping the problem. Although, there are those officers with good values, those that want to be the whistle-blower but are afraid of the risk that come with it. Frank Serpico was an officer for the New York Police Department (NYPD) who is known for loudly raising a concern about the corruption taking place within the NYPD. According to the article “Serpico on Serpico” by Corey Kilgannon of the New York Times, Serpico was shot in the face during a drug bust while his fellow officers failed to immediately call for an ambulance due to his testimony on the Knapp Commission hearings. After everything Serpico endured, one would think twice about taking a stand against corruption within the correctional system.