Posted: February 14th, 2023

Drug and Contraband in Correctional Systems

Drug and Contraband in Correctional Systems
Name
Institution

Drug and Contraband in Correctional Systems
The criminal justice system is comprised of several entities, including the correctional system that houses inmates while serving their sentences. These facilities are operated by correctional administration. Correctional administration plays an imperative role in the correctional system to ensure that the facilities operate effectively (O’Hagan, & Hardwick, 2017). These rules include law enforcement, supervisory task, and social services such as rehabilitation programs. Correctional administrators are frontline supervisors who put their lives on the line to ensure the order in jail and prison (O’Hagan, & Hardwick, 2017). Most of the correctional administration officials work under risky conditions, so the correctional officers threaten their safety and wellness. Many issues challenge the correctional administration today, for example, prison riots, gangs, overcrowding drugs, and contraband. This paper discusses the drug and contraband in the correctional system and how it deals with the issues.
Drugs and Contrabands
Drugs and contrabands pose a high risk to the correctional as they could potentially lead to violence and drug abuse. Contrabands are categorized as any illegal items within the facility’s vicinity, such as weapons, drugs, and cell phones, among others used in areas where these items are prohibited. Some of the contraband items have the potential of causing direct physical harm, for essence, the shanks, while others aid the transfer and circulation of these items, for example, cell phones. The most common drugs that are smuggled into the prison include heroin and cocaine. In most cases, they find their way in the prison through social visits from relatives, but in most cases, correctional administration officials. Correctional administrators are tasked with the mandate of detecting and confiscating these contrabands. However, most of them enabled them by offering them their cell phones and helping n the smuggling of the contrabands (Grommon, 2018). For essence, one of the most dreaded contraband in prison being cell phones; inmates use cell phones to coordinate with the outside world and, in turn, organize for drug and weapon smuggle int eh faculties
Role of Correctional Officers
While the correctional administration is tasked with combating the contraband in prison, so many cases have been reported to be actively involved in smuggling these drugs and contrabands into the correctional faculties. Most correctional officials integrate with the inmates and form cordial relationships with them. In turn, they help them smuggle drugs and contraband in and out of the facilities and share the proceeds from selling these drugs (O’Hagan, & Hardwick, 2017). Additionally, medical officers in the prisons have been accused of providing excess prescriptions of drugs for inmates who use it for other purposes other than the prescribed. Due to the nature of their jobs, most of these officials use stress and tend to develop post-traumatic disorder; they are likely to be involved in drug use as a coping mechanism.
Additionally, some of the correctional administration officials are coerced into participation in smuggling these drugs and contraband into the facility, especially by gang leaders. If they fail to oblige, they are either threatened or their families’ safety jeopardized. Therefore, though unwillingly, they aid the entry of contraband and drugs (Taylor-McCune, 2020).
According to Raphael, Lofstrom, and Martin (2017), correctional administration systems have since enacted programs that help inmates to refrain from drug and substance abuse in prison. These programs comprise myriads of interventions and services such as substance abuse treatments to combat drug abuse. It is one of the biggest challenges faced by the correctional system today. The influx of drugs and contraband in correctional faculties has been one of the critical threats to safety and order in the correctional facilities. This has forced the correctional administration to adopt proactive measures to combat them (Raphael, Lofstrom, & Martin, 2017). Therefore, the prison leadership, law enforcement officials are working tirelessly to curb this rapidly growing problem.
Several corrective administration measures can be adopted. They include adopting better technology and best practices in searching and frisking the staff and visitors to enhance these illegal items’ easier detection and conviction. Essentially, electronic mail systems curb the influx of drugs that would affect entire facilities through physical mails. Secondly, increased surveillance in and around the correctional facilities enhances the monitoring of inmates. It reduces the circulation of contraband and drugs as they will refrain from knowing that they are under all-round surveillance. Furthermore, increased prison screens would help to search for contraband in prisoners’ bodies through the walk through metal detectors (Taylor-McCune, 2020). However, much needs to be done by the correctional administration in the strive to achieve a contraband and drug-free correctional system.
Conclusion
There is an influx of contrabands and drugs in the correctional facilities. The correctional administration has been doing the best to find cost-effective solutions to curb the prolific infiltration of drugs and contrabands in the prison systems. However, there are still numerous gaps that have made these efforts short of success. For essence, most of the correctional officials play a role in smuggling drugs and contraband to the correctional facilities either willingly or unwillingly. This has made the efforts of combat contraband even more difficult. However, strategies such as the walk-in detectors are being adopted to help identify metallic weapons. Additionally, random drug tests are conducted have reduced the use of drugs in prisons. Furthermore, surveillance helps in the cells’ motoring to curb the transfer of drugs and contraband within the facilities.

References
Grommon, E. (2018). Managed access technology to combat contraband cell phones in prison: Findings from a process evaluation. Evaluation and Program Planning, 66, 39-47.
Gryczynski, Jan, Joshua D. Lee, Kristi Dusek, Ryan McDonald, Anjalee Sharma, Mia Malone, Laura Monico, Anna Cheng, Angela DeVeaugh-Geiss, and Howard Chilcoat. “Use of non–prescribed buprenorphine in the criminal justice system: Perspectives of individuals recently released from incarceration.” Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment (2021): 108349.
O’Hagan, A., & Hardwick, R. (2017). Behind bars: the truth about drugs in prisons. Forensic Research & Criminology International Journal, 5(3), 00158.
Raphael, S., Lofstrom, M., & Martin, B. (2017). The Effects of California’s Enhanced Drug and Contraband Interdiction Program on Drug Abuse and Inmate Misconduct in California’s Prisons. Report.
Taylor-McCune, K. (2020). Correctional Officers’ Perspectives on Cellphone Contraband Introduction by Fellow Officers.
Kurland, A. (2021). Using Research to Improve Health and Health Care in US Correctional Facilities.