Pubdate: Tue, 07 Jul 2015 Source: Citizen, The (Auburn, NY) Copyright: 2015 Auburn Publishers Inc. Contact: http://www.auburnpub.com/services/send_a_letter Website: http://www.auburnpub.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1491 Author: Joyce Hackett Smith TRUTH COMING OUT ABOUT PRISON CONTRABAND Prison inmates are masters at manipulating their guards into bringing them drugs, according to Seth Ferranti, whose article "Prison Drug Smuggling: The Old Fashioned Way" appeared in the New York Times (7/18/12). Seth writes that "although part of a new guard's orientation is meant to teach how prisoners may try to prey on staff members to gain favors or leverage, guards still fall victim and with all the avenues available and all the conniving drug addicts incarcerated prisons are clearly incapable of denying prisoners their drugs." It's been long overdue but the Federal Bureau of Investigation has finally stepped in! They've opened a corruption inquiry at the maximum security prison in northern New York where prison workers smuggled in tools that helped two convicted murderers to escape last month. According to a New York Times article (7/5/15), "the escape, from the Clinton Correctional Facility, shows how easy it is for guards and workers to bypass screening systems that are supposed to keep drugs, weapons and other contraband out of jails and prisons. However, this problem goes far beyond one horribly mismanaged prison in New York." As recent as Nov. 6, 2014, a Times article quoted a Correction Department's report, asking that "steps to bolster screening, such as using drug-sniffing dogs at employee entrances, be instituted to curtail the bringing in of drugs and other contraband into prisons by prison guards" but it hasn't happened because the powerful correction officers' union continues to oppose any searches! Since the state apparently has its hands tied because of the union, it is indeed a necessity that the FBI step in! It is obvious that when a prison is so porous that it can allow in tools, more lucrative contraband can find its way in as well. The July 5 article says "It makes sense for federal officials to look beyond the circumstances that led to the Clinton escape and beyond Clinton itself to other prisons in the system. These kinds of failures are not limited to New York. After all, it has often been shown nationally that when jails and prisons are awash in drugs, it's because prison guards are at the root of the problem." For years it's been the visitors coming in to see their loved ones who have been blamed for most of the drug traffic but at last the truth is now being told! Joyce Hackett Smith Auburn - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom