Controversial Attempt to Curb Overdose Deaths in Prisons

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on June 30, 2015 under Addiction Trends, Opiate Abuse | Comments are off for this article

The prison system in California is experiencing a massive increase in overdose deaths, specifically from heroin. Inmates incarcerated within California’s prison system are dying from overdoses at three times the national rate. This alarming statistic has prompted officials to institute aggressive screening measures in an attempt to prevent more prisoners from dying after receiving drugs smuggled in from the outside. Unfortunately, the expensive and invasive screening techniques do not seem to be paying off and many people are starting to wonder if they should be eliminated. However, those working within the prisons feel that maintaining the upgraded screening process is necessary in sending a message to anyone who is considering sneaking drugs into the facility.

“What we are trying to do is send a message to people to not try to smuggle drugs in to the institution. If we don’t do this, we’re going to have people keep dying, we’re going to have continued violence in the prisons, ” said Jeffrey Beard, the Corrections Secretary for California state prisons. Visitors are required to pass through specialized machines that are designed to detect drugs. The prisons are also equipped with drug sniffing dogs, and perhaps most controversial, anyone can be subject to a strip search. However, since the new processes have been instituted no drugs have been found on visitors, causing many to wonder if these techniques are even necessary.

Unfortunately, out of the $8 million dollars spent on the upgraded security measures, a large portion went to drug scanners that are continuously giving out false positive alarms. This means that visitors who walk through the scanners are often flagged for having drugs on their person, but upon further investigation they are found to be clean of any drugs. Critics of the new system point out that ‘further investigation’ means a strip search and are questioning the ethical problems that strip searching someone who is not carrying any drugs poses.

Officials agree that something has to be done to curb the amount of inmates that are dying from heroin doses while incarcerated. In California more than 150 prison inmates have died from overdoses since 2006.