Pubdate: Sat, 04 Jun 2016
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Copyright: 2016 Journal Sentinel Inc.
Contact: http://www.jsonline.com/general/30627794.html
Website: http://www.jsonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/265
Author: Jason Stein

DRUG CHARGES EXPECTED AGAINST INMATES

Probe Underway After Overdose Death at Oshkosh

State corrections officials think multiple inmates will be charged in 
connection with alleged drug distribution within an Oshkosh prison 
and the recent death of one inmate of an apparent drug overdose, records show.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has reported on the May 5 death of the 
33-year-old inmate within a segregated unit at the Oshkosh 
Correctional Institution. With investigations ongoing, officials at 
the prison said they are withholding any reports on the death or any 
potential probes into alleged drug distribution within the prison.

The Oshkosh police and the Winnebago County district attorney are 
reviewing the matter, Heath Tomlin, a records officer at the prison, 
wrote in his denial of the reports.

"The records you have requested relate to ongoing investigations, 
which will likely lead to criminal charges against a number of 
inmates in the custody of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections," 
Tomlin wrote.

The Wisconsin prison system has been under close scrutiny in recent 
months as federal authorities probe alleged abuses at the state's 
only juvenile prison. Newly appointed Corrections Secretary Jon 
Litscher, who is seeking to build up the standards and reputation of 
state prisons, announced a $10 million-a-year plan to raise the wages 
of corrections workers this month on the same day the Oshkosh inmate died.

The issue of preventing drugs from entering a prison through mail, 
visitors or staff is a crucial one for corrections officials, who are 
charged with keeping inmates safe while they're in a prison as well 
as preparing them to go straight once they leave its walls. Family 
members of inmates sent to prison on drug charges often say that one 
of the few positive parts of their imprisonment is that drug abusers 
are supposed to be kept safe from their addiction.

State Department of Corrections spokesman Tristan Cook referred 
further questions to the Oshkosh Police Department, which had no comment.

Multiple sources have told the newspaper that the inmate, Daniel 
Tanner, died in a special cell for monitoring inmates who may have 
ingested packages of drugs or hid them in their body. Tanner had 
finished serving most of a 10-year prison sentence on a 2007 felony 
conviction for distributing cocaine and marijuana, according to 
online court records.

State and local authorities have declined to confirm any more about 
the death. There also has been no comment from state corrections 
officials so far about what medical attention, if any, Tanner 
received before his death.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the matter said that in this case 
drugs appear to have entered the prison despite the controls in place 
to prevent that and that at some point prison staff became aware that 
Tanner could have been given controlled substances.

At the time of his death, Tanner was being held in a so-called dry 
cell, where inmates can't dispose of illicit drugs undetected. These 
cells can be used to monitor an inmate believed to have hidden drugs 
by placing them inside a condom, a finger from a latex glove or other 
makeshift container and then ingesting them or concealing them in his body.

Prison staff can then wait to see if illegal drugs end up passing out 
of the inmate in the dry cell. In the meantime, they are supposed to 
check regularly on these inmates.

There remains the risk that any potential vessel for the drugs could 
burst while they were inside the inmate's body or that the inmate in 
a dry cell could end up taking the drugs or consuming them. Either 
could lead to an overdose.

Sources said Tanner is suspected of having overdosed on heroin, a 
drug that along with other opioids has increasingly drawn concern 
from law enforcement officials statewide.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom