Because the BOP does not require NIK tests for contraband to be independently verified, it's impossible to say how often it happens, butReasonfound at least one case where a federal inmate was punished based on the results of a NIK test that was later invalidated by a crime lab. Inmates then smoke or ingest pieces of the soaked paper, or sell it to other inmates. The staffer noted that the papers felt "unusually thick" and gritty and looked discolored. The testimony inChaconalso established that the term "presumptive positive," as used by law enforcement and prosecutors, was largely meaningless, since the tests can't discriminate between illicit substances and the dozens of known licit substances that also trigger color reactions. In 2016, an Arkansas couple spent two months in jail after a sandwich bag of baking soda in their truck tested "positive" for cocaine. Symptoms are similar to other narcotics headache, drowsiness, disorientation, etc. Second, if an inmate is caught with synthetic marijuana, it is a relatively minor offensea 300 series incident reportequivalent to illicit tobacco possession. But in the past two years, prison officials say they have launched a continuing series of targeted crackdowns on visitors and guards who are smuggling it to convicts and on inmates who pay up to $500 an ounce to have it smuggled in to them. But this is not just freak occurrence within a single Massachusetts state prison. We also sell Wholesale K2 Paper Online. Texas' prison system conducts random drug tests on convicts and staff at a cost of about $10 each. PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- All 25 of Pennsylvania's state prisons remain on lockdown as they try to get a handle on synthetic drugs. The punishment for synthetic marijuana is essentially a slap on the wrist. Crime: Killing and dismembering 3-year-old Adam Gomez of Scottsbluff in 1999 and feeding some of his remains to a dog. $ 50.00 $ 45.00. One such cannabinoid is gaining in popularity in prisons across the nation. Then another dude smoked some and crawled under the bunk. Campers or free world people throw packages over the recreation yard fence. At FCI Beckley in West Virginia the regular smuggling gauntlet is through the mailroom. Ive also seen it where lads have dropped down dead, had heart attacks, gone into comas, gone loopy and ended up being sectioned because of it.. An April 19, 2017 article on Devon Live described the problem with synthetic marijuana at another British prison, HMP Dartmoor. When you can't dodge it, a shot is, like a punch in the mouth, something you have to eat. It is actually difficult to figure out what the reaction might be, said Frunzi. Add to cart. Prison has a strictly enforced social order, and sex criminals, especially those whose crimes involve children, are at the very bottom of itshunned at best. The inmates used. And the drug itself is more problematic, often causing erratic and dangerous behavior. Courts give wide latitude to prisons to manage their daily affairs and security, and that extends to prison disciplinary hearings. Liquid K2 is the latest contraband problem for Nebraska prisons, jails. They attribute the high bust rates to the targeted crackdowns, sometimes based on snitches. Lexipol. Police have also allegedly used similar field drug tests to arrest people overbird poopordrywall dust thattested positive as cocaine. The move followed the discovery of a dozen false positives linked to field tests. Join The Leaders In K2 Papers! To say that this experience has been highly upsetting is an understatement, Newman-Polk wrote in an October 2020 letter to Massachusetts DOC Commissioner Carol A. Mici, who is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. If synthetic marijuana is popular in your region, help spread the word of the dangers and misconceptions about this drug. For their part, four correctional officers at units in Huntsville, Gatesville and Abilene acknowledged the rising prevalence of K2. It's crazy here." "K2 is the new drug of choice, inside and outside of prison," said Bruce Toney, inspector general for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the detective force that busts illegal activity inside Texas' 110 state prisons - the nation's largest state-run system. This means that a presumptive positive for amphetamines in NIK Test A would be confirmed by NIK Test U by default. In recent months, numerous state and federal prison officials across the United States have acknowledged growing problem in their systems with K2, as have prison officials overseas in England and other countries. Basinger said the measure is necessary to prevent liquid K2 from entering the prison system. K2 spice spray is also called K2 spray. In 2013, Travis County, Texas, stopped accepting guilty pleas for low-level drug possession before official crime lab results came in. While U.S. media coverage of this problem was scarce before Hernandezs death, it has been regularly noted as a concern in U.K. prisons for several years. Aaron Hernandezs tragic death spotlighted a serious problem with synthetic marijuana in prisons. In October of 2015, BBC News reported how investigators concluded the use of Spice in an Oxfordshire prison contributed to an increase in violence. There is no parole in the federal prison system, so accruing good time credit is one of the only ways that inmates can shave time off their sentences. The BOP did not respond to a request for comment for this story. State poison control centers in Texas and other states soon reported a spike in overdoses, serious illnesses and deaths from K2 and related substances. Brett Blaisure was incarcerated at FCI Beaumont, a federal prison in Texas. K2 liquid drugs are also used in various combinations with both. inmates escape jail; 1 dead after shootout with deputies, 5 things to know about the escape proof supermax prison, Open the tools menu in your browser. Blaisure has reason to sound proud of beating the rap. With a swab system like the IONSCAN 600 from Smiths Detection, COs can quickly test mail and other objects entering the facility for trace narcotics contamination. Now, hes extremely nervous to receive further correspondence. researches product purchases and suppliers. Cannabinoid c-Liquid 5ml. One man began to dance around like a ballerina. If in doubt, read My Comments Policy. Harris County, Texas, and Portland, Oregon, did the same in 2016. Getting high and drug use remains a key problem throughout correctional institutions, said Frunzi. The court held a lengthy evidentiary hearing, where it became clear that the local district attorney's office frequently used NIK test kits as evidence to obtain grand jury indictments, despite a number of innocent people having been indicted and clear warnings from Safariland that the tests should be verified. At the Douglas County Jail, which houses an average of about 1,200 inmates, all mail not from lawyers is now checked and copied, with the photocopies given to inmates. Efforts to thwart smuggling range from prohibiting book deliveries to a postcard-only policy to providing scans or copies to inmates rather than the originals. Fewer staff members means fewer people to check incoming mail, visitors and deliveries, he said, and inmates realize that. "It took a bunch of us to take him down. But Steffey, still insistent on dodging the shot, says he plans on refiling the case as a civil rights lawsuit instead of a habeas petition. An ex-offenders organization called User Voice surveyed nine jails on their use of Spice. There was a problem saving your notification. Smugglers got even more creative after corrections officials took steps to screen mail and limit where books can be obtained. Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Chemists cooking up these substances are tinkering with the molecular structure to skirt DEA regulations, says Frunzi. ", After spending two years going through the Bureau of Prisons' grievance process and appealing his disciplinary sanctions, fruitlessly, Blaisure filed a petition in federal court in July 2016 seeking to restore his lost good time credits. I refuse to believe that every defense attorney in Massachusetts is suddenly a drug dealer.. Going through the mail piece by piece places a huge drain on staffing resources, as COs have to inspect each piece. Red in Test U alone does NOT indicate amphetamine-type compounds." Chemists cooking up these substances are tinkering with the molecular structure to skirt DEA regulations, says Frunzi. From the July 2021 issue. They smoke it "and then they flip out," Steffey says. And the compounds that the tests screen for aren't exclusive to the illegal drugs the tests are supposed to indicate. The report makes no mention of NIK Test U, which is supposed to follow Test A. Inmates have written to the Post-Gazette, saying they dont like seeing their neighbor passed out from the drugs they buy in the prison yard. Meanwhile, low evidence standards make it just about impossible for federal inmates to challenge the results of these tests in court. Look for a box or option labeled Home Page (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) or On Startup (Chrome). The Nebraska and Iowa prison systems, as well as the Douglas County Jail, have changed their policies on book purchases. By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from Vice Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content. In April, a search of a prison in Clarinda, Iowa, found 60 inmates involved in consuming or possessing K2, prompting new precautions to keep the liquid form from being smuggled in. The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, a union of state correctional workers, told local news outlets that DOCCS found there were false-positive results with the testing kits being used to identify contraband drugs. "Three guys went off about the same time and overdosed after smoking K2," he said. Inmates have figured out novel ways of smuggling the drugs in, such as lacing paper with liquid K2. The Legislature made K2 illegal in September 2015. The Very Strange New Respect for Authoritarian Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In yet another case, an incarcerated man named Julian Green accepted legal mail from the Boston College Innocence Program in 2019, though the parcel was taken away for testing and came back positive for K2. NARK only tests for the possible presence of certain chemical compounds., I refuse to believe that every defense attorney in Massachusetts is suddenly a drug dealer.. Crime:kidnapping, raping and murdering Heather Guerrero, a 15-year-old Gering newspaper carrier, in 2003. In recent letters to the Houston Chronicle, convicts report that a growing number of prisoners are overdosing from the drug - though prison statistics do not confirm that, perhaps due to the difficulty in validating its presence through standard drug tests. The officer threw him in the Special Housing Unit (SHU)a sanitized term for solitary confinementfor five months, where he was held in a cell for at least 23 hours a day. Texas prison officers start at a salary of about $36,000; the maximum is less than $45,000. At the Douglas County Jail, a new prevention tactic is coming soon, Meyers said. Corrections1 is revolutionizing the way in which the corrections community finds relevant news, With the right tools and strategies, correctional leaders can protect their employees and catch contraband smugglers without radical policy changes that can trigger expensive lawsuits. Because these molecules are versions of THC but not actual THC, the prevailing idea is that they will not turn up in a drug screen, he said. The Legislature made K2 illegal in September 2015. Do Not Sell My Personal Information, If you need further help setting your homepage, check your browsers Help menu, Ill. CO charged in fatal nightclub shooting, Former S.C. CO's sworn statement leads to 16-year early release of convicted murderer, 4 Miss. Select the option or tab named Internet Options (Internet Explorer), Options (Firefox), Preferences (Safari) or Settings (Chrome). There is regular reporting on the growing presence of K2, Spice and other new psychoactive substances in the U.S. According to the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Steffey conspired to smuggle drugs into prison in the form of a sheaf of legal papers laced with an illicit substance. C.J. "It appears that the Bureau of Prisons regularly deprives prisoners of good conduct time credit, thereby lengthening their time in prison, based on a testing protocol known for its high rate of error, without even minimal procedures to ensure that the tests are conducted correctly and that questionable test results are subject to confirmation," Steffey's appeal to the 9th Circuit, filed last August, argued. Months ago at the Ferguson Unit, a state prison north of Huntsville long known as one of Texas' tougher lockups, a convict doing 30 years for drug trafficking "flipped out" and started yelling and swinging wildly at correctional officers and other convicts. Best Spice Paper Worldwide. "I was like, you guys are crazy. Billy Steffey is determined not to eat the shot. and that the data you submit is exempt from Do Not Sell My Personal Information requests. BOP investigators also discovered a chain of email messages that appeared to be thinly veiled code about money transactions and deliveries. As a result of the infraction, Blaisure spent 30 days in the SHU. The footage shows the officer performing a NARK II test for methamphetamines, which turned dark red instead of blue, indicating a negative result, according to the manufacturer. In 2016, sheriff's deputies in Monroe County, Georgia, arrested Macon resident Dasha Fincher after a search of her car turned up a plastic baggie of blue crystals. "A methamphetamine test might be targeting a functional group that is present on methamphetamine," Harris says. And in the long term, we hope that Sirchie will stop marketing this test that it knows doesnt produce accurate results.. But inside, incarcerated people are at the mercy of bureaucracies even more strongly tilted against them. Contraband drugs are a big problem in correctional facilities, especially Suboxone and synthetic versions of marijuana, often called K2 or Spice. why did duck diner closed, down east wood ducks coaching staff, bunnies for sale in bloomsburg pa,
Handyman Exemption In Georgia,
Should I Take Potassium In The Morning Or Night,
Tabor Academy Faculty Housing,
Articles L