Oklahoma Prisons
To Increase Random "Drug" Testing To Comply With Federal Mandates
April 24, 1998From the Tulsa World
tulsaworld@mail.webtek.com
http://www.tulsaworld.com
Barbara Hoberock World Capitol Bureau
(Ed. note: Two observations. First, if we cannot keep prison
"drug-free" out of prisons, why are we turning the country into one big prison
to make it "drug-free?" Second, this will have the effect of increasing hard
drug use because they are so much easier to smuggle and harder to detect than marijuana.)
See
"Mandatory
Prison Drug Testing May Have Perverse Effect" -
Discouraging Cannabis; Encouraging Hard Drugs. - London Times
DOC TO STEP UP TESTS FOR DRUGS
OKLAHOMA CITY—All inmates in Department of Corrections facilities will be randomly
tested for drugs as part of a project that begins next month.
The department will test 5 percent of the inmate population for
drug use each month, said James Saffle, DOC director.
The urine analysis will give department officials some idea about how pervasive drug
use is behind prison walls, said Dennis Cotner, the department’s director of medical
and inmate services.
There are 20,466 inmates in the prison system.
Prisons already do random drug testing, but the new push will be more comprehensive and
coordinated, Cotner said, adding that it won’t cost that much more money. DOC also
tests inmates who are suspected of using drugs, he said.
The mandatory drug testing came about after President Clinton directed Attorney General Janet Reno to promote a policy of zero tolerance of drug use and
trafficking in prisons, Cotner said.
"He directed her to, among other things, amend the drug testing guidelines to
include requirements that states report on drug abuse problems and progress toward ridding
correctional facilities of drugs and reducing the drug use among offenders," Cotner
said.
Cotner said DOC has centralized records from its facilities pertaining to drug testing.
States must report the results to the federal government to obtain federal dollars, he
said.
Judging from serious incident reports from numerous facilities, drug use in the
state’s corrections system is far from nonexistent.
On March 31, a construction worker was arrested at Joseph Harp Correctional Center in
Lexington for possession of marijuana, according to the report.
"Charges were filed for distributing drugs inside a penal institution," the
report said.
On March 10 at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester an inmate tried to put
something in his mouth during a strip search.
"The inmate was ordered to get it out of his mouth, " the report said.
"He did so and attempted to flush it. The officer grabbed his arm to deter him from
flushing it. The inmate put the substance back in his mouth. He was wrestled to the
floor."
The inmate eventually spit out "six small bags of a green
leafy substance," the report said.
On Dec. 27 at Jackie Brannon Correctional Center in McAlester, correctional officers
were searching inmates after visitation. An officer ordered an inmate to open his mouth
and saw a plastic bag with a white substance in it, the report said. The inmate ended up
swallowing the bag and its contents.
"I think they (drugs) are pretty prevalent in most prisons,
" said Lynn Powell, a Tulsan who is president of Citizens United for the
Rehabilitation of Errants. "I don’t have a problem with drug testing, but
I’d like to see them test their own personnel to deter the way drugs get into the
system."
The department is working on a policy to test employees, said Jerry Massie, department
spokesman.
Staff members determine which inmates on parole and probation must undergo a drug test,
said Stormy Wilson, a department district supervisor.
Parolees and probationers who test positive for drug use won’t automatically go
back to prison, he said.
Some may receive an intermediate sanction, such as being required to do community
service, have more supervision or go to a day reporting center, he said.
Inmates caught with drugs will get a misconduct and possibly additional felony charges,
he said.
Supported