Prison and Illegal Drug Use Research Essay

Despite being isolated from society and under strict supervision, inmates find various methods to obtain illegal drugs. The safety of inmates and employees is threatened by the illegal drug use in the prison system. Additionally, it undermines the authority of the correctional establishment and runs counter to the rehabilitation objectives that are anticipated of the facility. The vice undermines public trust in the criminal justice system and jeopardizes the safety of the neighborhoods where offenders return. It is unsettling to think that these prisons are powerless to stop criminals from continuing their drug-abuse routines while serving their sentences. Ensuring that there is no illegal drug use in prisons is a fundamental aspect of guaranteeing prison order and security. Getting rid of the problem also makes sure that inmates abstain from drugs during the time they serve their sentences. Eradication of drug use in prison is an essential first step on the road to continuing self-restraint with important repercussions for the time when inmates are released back to the public. This paper will seek to find out what factors contribute to the persistent drug problem in correctional facilities and what different government departments are doing to curb this problem.

Keywords: inmates, correctional facilities, illegal drug, drug abuse

Illegal Drug Use in Prison

The prevalence of drug use in the prisons is the result of a mixture of a profitable business and imprisoned customer base that is anxious to escape mentally. The problems and challenges that arise as a result of substance abuse within our correctional facilities are significant. The fact that the majority of the population in these facilities tends to reflect people with chronic and established substance abuse behavior magnifies the scope of these issues (Welsh, Zajac & Bucklen, 2014). If the illegal drug use within the prisons across the country is not dealt with, it will become a key problem that might lead to various issues like disorder within the prison, violence among the various inmates and corruption by the prison staff. One of the recommended solutions for this problem is reducing the prison population which will lead to the improving of the lives of some of the most damaged people in our society. This vice goes against the main purpose of correctional facilities in the country which is to prepare offenders for successful re-integration back into society. This paper will examine the problem illegal drug use in prisons poses by looking at the various factors that influence it.

Historical Perspective of the Topic

In 1980, there were 40,900 people imprisoned for drug-related crimes. By 2013, this number had shot to more than 489,000 inmates (Welsh, Zajac & Bucklen, 2014). Keeping in mind that the greater majority of arrests done are for drug-related possession, the justice system has to contend with prisoners battling drug addictions which eventually leads to the vice that is illegal drug use in the correctional facilities. In the mid-90s, Congress took legal steps to encourage the various States to adopt widespread prison drug-testing and addiction measures that will help in implementing diverse treatment policies (Welsh, Zajac & Bucklen, 2014).

Self-evaluation from prisoners indicates that their drug use before incarceration connects to other criminal behavior such as theft. The connection indicates that drug abuse in some instances reflects the activities of an individual. The illegal drug use amongst inmates in these correctional facilities was similar among African-Americans, Caucasians, and Hispanics. Further research proved that the length of time the inmate had been imprisoned did not way influence the prevalence of the drug use habit.

Methods of Smuggling

In most of the correctional facilities around the country, inmate ingenuity has been the main factor attributed to the shocking statistics that show the extent to which the illegal use of drugs is a problem (Shinzo, Koji, Saori & Akira, 2016). Other factors that have contributed to this vice is the inmate’s visitors who act as drug mules and provide the prisoners with drugs concealed in one form or another. Various corrupt prison staff is blamed for the rise in drug abuse in the prison facilities through turning a blind eye to the inmates who are smuggling these drugs. In other instances, they often participate in helping inmates smuggle the drugs into the prison. The inmates also come up with various strategies such as using their fellow inmates to smuggle the drugs concealed by their associates at off-prison job sites. Furthermore, the inmates use the mail to receive easily concealable drugs from their friends and relatives on the outside. Other methods include the use of drug packets launched over the facility’s walls through the use of paintball guns and different modified homemade launchers. Statistics have also blamed the recent boom in cell-phone smuggling for helping the vice spread in the prisons. The Department of Corrections in 2009 seized more than 5,000 contraband cell phones within the prison walls. The number tripled from as seen in the survey conducted two years earlier (Oleinik, 2013). The inmates use these cell phones to arrange various drug deliveries. The prison walls have become ineffective in hindering the inmates from getting access to the drugs.

Drug activities

The gangs and various cartels that exist within the prison control the majority of the drug trade in the correctional facilities. The motivation by these gangs to take part in the trade is the abnormal prices that these drugs are sold for within the walls of the prison. An example of this is the situation whereby the price of heroin in prison is almost ten times more than its actual value on the streets. The profits made in these endeavors provide the inmates with enough cash to bribe the prison staff so that they can turn a blind eye (Oleinik, 2013). In various states, gang related drug activity has been cited as the main purveyor of prison riots and the rampant violence that takes place within these correctional facilities. The instances whereby riots occur between different rival gangs in the facility start when some of the drug deals go wrong. Various studies have shown that most of the gangs found in the prisons are involve in the drug trade in one way or another. The gangs use different smuggling tactics such as using visitors to smuggle the drugs and passed on to the inmate through a seemingly passionate kiss. However, the favored means used by the gangs is hiding the drugs in legal documents which are exempt from searches in the prison mailrooms.

Current Approach by the Criminal Justice System

Over the past few years, correctional services have come up with various important programs that seek to curb drug use among prisoners in correctional facilities. The programs are aimed at meeting the health requirements of the inmates and at the same time stopping the vice which is the use of prohibited drugs within the facility and after being released (Mjåland, 2014). Various reports have shown that the abuse of hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine by the prisoners often contribute to the commission of several offenses by these prisoners. The programs are built around the notion that the only way to resettle the prisoners battling this vice is to tackle their habitual drug use. It also emphasizes the need to provide these prisoners with quality aftercare while in the correctional facilities and after their release. By using such a blueprint, these programs are more likely to be successful. The most important theme when tackling this issue is to ensure that the treatment offered is specified to the various needs of the prisoners based on factors like their gender and ethnicity.

The state of Florida has implemented various strategies that they hope in the long run will work to reduce the illegal use of drugs in their different correctional facilities. Some of these strategies include the incorporation of drug- detecting dogs into the system, the use of metal detectors to scan visitors and random searches of the prison staff and the actual inmates (Barro et al., 2014). The South Carolina Department of Corrections noticed that the inmates had modified smuggling tactics and they responded effectively by installing X-ray machines and metal detectors in all their prisons. The State of Pennsylvania’s vulnerability analysis program has also been proven to have helped in reducing the drug trade. This program uses specially trained staff from one prison to carry out tests on the various staff at another prison.

Future Trends

The use of effective treatment programs to help inmates dealing with drug use in the correctional facilities has proved to have a fifty-fifty success rate (Belenko & Houser, 2012). One of the main reasons for this result is that the inmates who have undergone the strict treatment program are eventually released back into society, and they are community correction programs which are less effective. The supervision in these community facilities is less thorough, and the released inmates finally revert to their old habits. Another factor that has negated the positive effects that different strategies implemented across the country have is the lack of such initiatives in county jails. These facilities in most instances house prisoners who are awaiting trial or serving sentences of not more than two years.

Conclusion

The constant demand for drugs by inmates within our correctional facilities poses significant problems regarding health and security risks. The trafficking activities that result from the drug trade in these facilities have a high potential for resulting in violence. From the study conducted it has been seen that preventing drugs from infiltrating our prisons is very difficult due to various factors. The high volume of movement in these institutions poses a great problem in tracking each and every individual that goes through it thus making detection of drug trafficking instances very difficult. The problem arises in both aspects of supply and demand which must be looked into in an all-inclusive manner if there is any hope of long term success. However, this can only be accomplished by developing partnerships amongst all the key outfits and groups. In conclusion, it is beyond doubt that the problem of illegal drug use in correctional facilities is spiraling out of control and if not dealt with effectively will prove to be an obstacle to the efficient rectification and reintegration of offenders back into the society.

References

Barro, J., Casillas, A., Gétaz, L., Rieder, J., Baroudi, M., François, A., & ... Wolff, H. (2014). Retractable Syringes in a Swiss Prison Needle and Syringe Exchange Program: Experiences of Drug-using Inmates and Prison Staff Perceptions. International Journal Of Mental Health & Addiction, 12(5), 648-659. doi:10.1007/s11469-014-9498-x

Belenko, S., & Houser, K. A. (2012). Gender Differences in Prison-Based Drug Treatment Participation. International Journal Of Offender Therapy & Comparative Criminology, 56(5), 790. doi:10.1177/0306624X11414544

Mjåland, K. (2014). ’A culture of sharing’: Drug exchange in a Norwegian prison. Punishment & Society, 16(3), 336. doi:10.1177/1462474514527149

Oleinik, A. (2013). The Social Life of Illegal Drug Users in Prison: A Comparative Perspective. European Journal Of Crime, Criminal Law & Criminal Justice, 21(2), 185-206. doi:10.1163/15718174-21022026

Shinzo, Y., Koji, F., Saori, K., & Akira, E. (2016). Drug Dependence Treatment Awareness among Japanese Female Stimulant Drug Offenders. International Journal Of Environmental Research & Public Health, 13(11), 1. doi:10.3390/ijerph13111127

Welsh, W., Zajac, G., & Bucklen, K. (2014). For whom does prison-based drug treatment work? Results from a randomized experiment. Journal Of Experimental Criminology, 10(2), 151. doi:10.1007/s11292-013-9194-z