Pubdate: Tue, 13 Apr 2004
Source: Auburn Plainsman, The (AL Edu)
Copyright: 2004 The Auburn Plainsman
Contact:  http://www.theplainsman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1880
Author: Megan A. Tyree, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

PRISONS REEVALUATING ONE-STRIKE DRUG TEST POLICY

Alabama's Department of Corrections is evaluating the state's prison 
drug-testing system. The system has undergone few alterations since its 
inception. Brian Corbett, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, 
says the evaluation is part of the Department's house-keeping duties, a 
spring cleaning of its policies and standards.

"It's just like with any other business," Corbett said, "sometimes you have 
to evaluate what you're doing in your business to make sure things are 
operating efficiently."

However, the DOC has received numerous complaints about the accuracy of the 
testing system.

UAB justice sciences professor Fred Smith finds fault with the system's 
method of confirmation.

"In Alabama prisons, they're doing a screening test but not a confirmation 
test," Smith said. "The screening test eliminates the negatives, but 
doesn't confirm the positives."

When employees take a drug test at their place of occupation, a 
confirmation test is required to ensure the accuracy of the initial 
screening test, Smith said. Other organizations allow for a margin of 
error, even re-testing.

That's not so in Alabama's prisons.

Inmates who test positive do not get the benefit of a confirmation of a 
positive result that could cost them parole or work-release opportunities.

In an earlier interview with Carla Crowder of the Birmingham News, Smith 
said that inmates who feel they have been victimized by the testing system 
do not have the option of appealing.

"Prisoners have no recourse to refute these potentially erroneous results," 
Smith said. "When a person is accused of drug use, it destroys their 
confidence in the system."

Prisoners rely on representative lawyers from organizations that specify in 
defending prisoner rights, such as the Birmingham Work Release Center and 
the Southern Center for Human Rights. Both have represented female inmates 
from Alabama with concerns about the reliability of DOC drug tests.

The possibility of a false positive drug test is unrefuted. At least one 
out of every one hundred screening tests is wrong, according to Smith.

"It is possible to come up with a false positive on a drug test," the DOC's 
Corbett said. "That's the reason for the evaluation. We want to ensure that 
doesn't happen."

Corbett challenges prisoner complaints about inaccuracy.

"They're just accusations," Corbett said. "But we don't want to displace 
those accusations without evaluating them, which is what we're doing."

In 2003, of the 121,066 drug tests performed on prisoners and staff 
members, 2,141 tested positive for illegal drugs or alcohol.

That's a drop in positive tests from the previous year's 3,769, Corbett said.

"One point five percent is a very low rate in terms of positive drug 
tests," Corbett said. He attributes the rate's decrease to an "aggressive 
drug treatment program."

UAB's Smith said the best way to improve the system is to do both screening 
and confirmation testing.

"That's not very expensive," he said. "It's under $10 a sample, which is 
cheaper than housing someone in prison for just one day."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager