Medicine on demand, straight from a jail guard, had been shut down by the sheriff on the Decrease Buckeye Jail in Phoenix, Arizona.
In line with Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone, a detention officer was arrested for trying to carry methamphetamine and fentanyl into the Decrease Buckeye Jail in Phoenix, Arizona.
Fox 10 reports that detention officer Andres Salazar faces a number of drug-related felony counts. A cash alternate came about within the parking zone of the jail earlier than Salazar tried to carry a bundle containing about 100 capsules into the jail.
“This was an ongoing investigation,” Penzone mentioned at a press convention on Jan. 11. “This detention officer was employed in October 2019, lately labored with inmates and a few of us on the skin, and tried to carry fentanyl and methamphetamine into the jail.”
Salazar apparently wasn’t excellent at it, a regrettable alternative that can influence his future. “We have now robust purpose to consider this was his first try,” the sheriff mentioned.
“This younger man, no matter led him to make this resolution, will not solely lose his profession, however most probably the long run that he has for himself is certainly going to be hindered in an hostile approach,” Penzone mentioned.
The drug drawback is dangerous: In Maricopa County jails in 2022, 172 inmates had been taken to the hospital for overdose or drug-related incidents; 17 in-custody deaths had been brought on by an overdose, or medication had been a significant contributing issue to the deaths; 194 inmates examined optimistic for some sort of drug by means of a urine pattern; and 114 of these inmates examined optimistic for fentanyl particularly.
The County says that 150 inmate postcards had been intercepted within the mailroom that examined optimistic for being soaked in fentanyl and/or methamphetamine. “Since October 2022, 1,503 detention officers, sergeants and lieutenants had been educated to deploy Narcan,” the sheriff said.
A Sample within the U.S. Legal Justice System
This sort of factor isn’t exceptional within the felony justice system: In 2021, Marc Antrim, a former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, was sentenced for orchestrating a fake drug raid, stealing over half a ton of hashish and $600,000 in money from a warehouse.
Three South Carolina prison guards were arrested in 2018 for smuggling drugs and different contraband into two totally different correctional establishments. In a type of incidents, a guard tried to smuggle in 143 grams, or about 5 ounces of pot right into a detention heart.
Assume that medication are out of attain within the jail and jail methods? Assume once more: In line with the Nationwide Institute of Drug Abuse, there are “excessive” charges of substance use inside the felony justice system. Particularly, some analysis exhibits that an estimated 65% percent of the United States prison population has an “energetic substance abuse dysfunction,” they usually must get these medication from someplace. It’s probably the greatest arguments to say that drugs won the War on Drugs.
Maricopa County, nevertheless, is tackling the issue with some new modifications.
Maricopa County Fights Medicine, Corruption in Jail
Penzone is now taking motion proactively to stop incidents like this from occurring once more below his watch. KTAR Information reports that the sheriff introduced scanning machines will quickly be put in at jailhouses to detect medication and different contraband coming into and exiting the amenities, authorities introduced Wednesday.
“I’m at a stage now the place I believe it’s not solely essential however applicable that we buy scanning machines so that each particular person who enters our jail—whether or not it’s employees/volunteers—anyone and everybody who enters into the secured inhabitants shall be checked to find out if we are able to mitigate and intercept any potential contraband coming into the jail,” Penzone mentioned.
“If we have to improve the whole system in the whole jail system, I’m keen to try this,” Penzone mentioned. “However we’re going to search out the one that’s the best and put it in play in all of our jails as quickly as potential.”
Medicine equivalent to fentanyl and methamphetamine rank excessive within the hazard degree.
In line with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), fentanyl is the deadliest drug menace dealing with this nation. “In 2021, a document variety of Individuals—107,622—died from a drug poisoning or overdose,” the DEA launch reads. “Sixty-six % of these deaths might be attributed to artificial opioids equivalent to fentanyl.”
0 Comments