Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jun 2016
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2016 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.
Author: Don Thompson, The Associated Press

DRUG USE BEHIND PRISON BARS RISES CALIFORNIA

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 AP 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 increased 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 
Associated Press.

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 had said would show improvements. 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.

But a 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.

Thompson writes for The Associated Press.
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