Missouri is taking a new step to prevent the smuggling of illegal items into its prisons.
Trevor Foley, acting director of the state Department of Corrections, said the agency is launching a new unit with 19 additional investigators. Missouri’s state budget includes $1 million to hire the workers.
“We do believe that we are getting an increase of all different types of contraband from a lot of new delivery methods and entry points. So, we needed some additional resources to try to identify those entry points, to try to prevent the contraband from getting in, try to identify it when it does get in, and then try to have appropriate responses when it gets in. We’re trying to attack it from all angles,” Foley told Missourinet.
Drugs, cellphones, weapons, tobacco, and other items are getting into Missouri’s prisons. They pose a serious threat to the safety of workers, inmates, and visitors.
“It’s all a multi-level approach to try to address the problem and keep the insides of our facilities safe,” said Foley.
Items are coming in by people, through mail, books, people throwing items over the fence, and even by drones.
“We’ve had, fortunately, and I’m I am knocking on wood, many of our peer states and other parts of the country have had much more significant drone problems with their correctional systems than we have. But yes, it’s a growing issue of concern for us as well,” he said.
Foley said Missouri’s prisons also have body scanners and are regularly visited by dogs that can spot drugs. The department switched to digital mail, instead of paper mail in most instances. Books must come directly from a publishing source.
“What we’ve seen, and this is precisely what law enforcement has experienced in the community, is that a lot of fentanyl and synthetics that can be liquified, can be sprayed on paper, potentially making paper a huge source of contraband within our facilities. Many of our largest interdictions have been really just soaked paper,” Foley said.
Anyone coming from the outside who is found to have contraband on them could be prosecuted.
Missouri has about 24,000 prisoners within its 19 adult prisons.
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