Pubdate: Sun, 14 May 2006
Source: Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
Copyright: 2006 The Press-Enterprise Company
Contact:  http://www.pe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/830
Author: Paige Austin

SECURITY FIGHTS CRIME INSIDE, OUTSIDE PRISON

The drug smuggling, the gang violence and the cat-and-mouse game 
between organized crime and the prison officers at the California 
Institution for Men is as old as the 66-year-old prison itself. David 
Bauman / The Press-Enterprise Correctional officers with the 
Investigative Services Unit at the California Institution for Men in 
Chino frisk inmates for drugs during a surprise search.

The only thing new is the Security Squad of the Investigative Services Unit.

It's an elite team of corrections officers, who ferret out drug 
smuggling and gang activity both inside and outside the prison.

Initiated in the aftermath of the slaying of an officer last year, 
the squad chips away at the organized crime that dominates life 
inside the Chino prison. In turn, it makes the prison safer for many 
of the inmates, correctional officers and civilians who work in the prison.

Members of the unit are also part of a multi-agency gang task force. 
They help local police agencies learn about the wide reach of 
prison-based gangs such as the Mexican Mafia and other statewide gangs.

"We have a lot of drugs here and that's what we're trying to 
curtail," said unit leader Lt. Tom Goetz. "It leads to extortion and violence."

They wear the same olive green uniforms of other correctional 
offices, but their insignia and patches are blackened to identify 
them as squad members. They strive for the element of surprise, but 
it's rarely with them, as the sighting of a squad member sets off a 
flurry of activity among inmates.

That's how it went this month when the squad charged a 
medium-security dorm where an inmate was found dead of an apparent 
heroin overdose. As the squad approached Angeles Hall, a dorm for 
inmate work crews, inmates rushed in from the yard to warn others 
that a bust was under way. Seconds later, the 10 squad members charged in.

The dorm erupted in shouting -- most it from the officers.

"Everybody down now! On the ground!" shouted officers armed with pepper spray.

Dozens of inmates wearing sweats and boxers dropped to the ground. No 
one resisted and the dorm was secured in a matter of seconds. The 
officers grabbed a handful of inmates with suspected links to heroin 
smuggling for strip searches. The rest were patted down and sent to 
the yard where they would spend the rest of the day waiting while the 
squad searched the dorm.

The goal is to figure out how the inmate died, explained Goetz. Was 
it a straightforward overdose, or was he given a "hot shot," a dose 
designed to kill?

"We don't know if this guy's been murdered," Goetz said. "We may go 
out there and find this guy's name on a note ordering his murder."

The officers hoped to find the rest of the heroin as well.

It took hours of pat downs, flipping mattresses, sifting through 
trash, books, clothes and shampoo bottles, but the squad found more 
than they had hoped for.

They found a note describing the overdose along with a detailed 
inventory of heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana to be smuggled 
into Palm Hall, the maximum-security area of the prison.

Moments later, another officer found a syringe in a hollowed-out copy 
of the religious book "Acts of Faith."

"Who knows? It might be the weapon we're looking for," said Sgt. Frank Esqueda.

As the search concluded, officers interrogated the suspects and found 
the heroin, which one inmate had stashed inside a body cavity. 
Another inmate was carrying a roll call -- dozens of inmate names on 
a tiny scrap of paper listing their prison number, home town, gang 
affiliation and monikers like "Lefty," "Misfit," "Evil" and "Casper."

"That was thoughtful of him," joked Lt. Michael Dimmit, the squad's 
gang investigator.

The prison gangs use the lists to keep track of their members. The 
gangs are very structured, and about 33 percent of all drug sales are 
given to gang leaders, he said. In the hands of law-enforcement, roll 
calls are great for identifying suspects in gang-related crimes, Dimmit said.

By monitoring phone calls, postings on MySpace.com, and with the help 
of informants, the squad has already busted five visitors trying to 
smuggle drugs into the prison. Though less than a year old, the squad 
is making a big difference inside and outside the prison, said 
Officer Randall Schiebe.

"We're lucky the warden is behind us all the way," said Schiebe, 
nicknamed K9 for his uncanny ability to find contraband. "It's like a 
game of cat-and-mouse, but I love it."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman