Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jun 2016
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2016 The Orange County Register
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321
Author: Don Thompson, The Associated Press

DRUG USE APPEARS TO RISE AT PRISONS GUARDING AGAINST IT

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Drug use behind bars appears to have increased 
since California started using drug-sniffing dogs and machinery to 
try to stop smuggling at state prisons, where overdose deaths are 
nearly five times the national rate, records show.

It's unclear exactly why things haven't gone as officials projected.

Some say the testing can yield artificially high results. Others say 
it's too soon to draw any long-term conclusions. Still more say the 
program simply is not working. Prison officials won't divulge details 
on results of the multimillion-dollar program.

After The Associated Press reported a year ago that the department 
couldn't demonstrate the program's effectiveness, officials said they 
would look for a decline in positive drug tests, overdose deaths, 
suicides and violent incidents, and increased participation in 
rehabilitation programs.

Instead, detected drug use rose from 5.5 percent before the program 
began to 7.3 percent of inmates who were tested in the first year in 
eight of the 11 prisons where California added drug-sniffing dogs and 
drug-detecting scanners, according to data provided to the AP.

Drug use spiked at the three prisons with the most intensive drug 
interdiction programs, which include full-body scanners and 
surveillance cameras in visiting rooms. Positive tests jumped from 
10.5 percent before the program to 13.9 percent in the first six 
months before dropping to 11.5 percent in the second six 
months  still higher than before the program began in early 2014.

Despite repeated requests, officials said they couldn't provide any 
of the data they said would show improvement. Weeks after AP 
requests, they gave a portion of the information to the nonpartisan 
Legislative Analyst's Office, which gave it to the AP and described 
the poor results at a legislative hearing.

"The percentage of the prison population that's testing positive 
actually increased, so that's an indication to us that probably drug 
use is on the rise," analyst Aaron Edwards said.

Officials said the urinalysis data could be artificially high because 
it includes inmates who refuse to take tests and also inmates who 
have been retested after initially testing positive.

Corrections department spokeswoman Vicky Waters said it is premature 
to draw any conclusions because the early data cover a period before 
the prevention measures were fully in place at all 11 prisons.

One major goal was to reduce prison violence, and that didn't happen either.

Violent incidents dropped about 4 percent across the prison system in 
the first year but jumped more than 5 percent at the three prisons 
with the most intensive drug-detection programs. They increased 
slightly at the other eight prisons that added anti-smuggling 
measures, a legislative analysis showed.

Prison lockdowns after riots decreased statewide but dropped 
significantly more at prisons without the intensive programs.

The bad news prompted state lawmakers to cancel a planned expansion 
of the program that would have cost nearly $8 million. The decision 
came after the department spent $10.2 million on the airport-style 
scanners and other measures over two years, in addition to the $3 
million it already spent annually on drug-sniffing dogs.

"We gave them a chance to do this pilot (program) and we didn't get 
results," said Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose.

The Legislature ultimately agreed to provide about $5 million to 
continue the anti-smuggling program for a year, with no expansion, 
until an independent study is completed.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom