State prisons to conduct stricter searches of visitors, staff

In an attempt to staunch the flow of contraband to inmates, state prisons will soon have stringent new search procedures for visitors and staff.

The policy is intended to crack down on smuggled goods that fuel gang activity behind bars, officials said. But prisoners’ rights advocates raised concerns that more invasive searches could discourage visitors, who can aid inmates’ rehabilitation.

“Since January, we’ve arrested 546 visitors for smuggling in drugs and cellphones. It’s a huge problem,” said Dana Simas, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections. “With the flow of drugs and cellphones, you’re definitely emboldening prison gangs that create a very dangerous underground economy in our prisons.”

Currently, visitors can be searched if officers have a “reasonable suspicion” that the person is carrying contraband, such as erratic behavior or odor of certain drugs like marijuana.

Beginning in mid-October, prison officials also will be conducting random hand swabs, similar to those performed at airports, to detect trace levels of narcotics on visitors and staff members. Individuals who test twice positively for drug residue will undergo an additional search.

In January, officials will begin using drug-sniffing dogs to detect contraband as well.

If further searches are deemed necessary, staff members would be subject to a clothed pat-down, while visitors would be strip-searched. Visitors could choose not to be searched and leave the premises or visit with an inmate behind glass if such an option is available at the particular prison.

Last year, drug-sniffing dogs found 404 pounds of contraband drugs in the state’s prisons, according to Simas. More than 12,000 contraband cellphones were seized in prisons and conservation camps in 2013, she said — a marked increase from just six years earlier, when around 1,400 phones were found.

Simas said the new procedures will be rolled out first in the 11 most “intensive” institutions — the facilities where officials have seen the highest level of contraband. She declined to name the prisons, citing security concerns. The corrections department has 34 adult facilities.

Donald Specter, an attorney with the Prison Law Office, which represents inmates in class-action suits about prison conditions, said he had already received some emails from visitors worried about the new policy.

“There’s a concern that the searches be conducted in a lawful and humane manner,” Specter said, adding that the presence of dogs can be particularly intimidating.

The stricter searches could have “a deterrent effect on visiting,” which has proven effective in reducing the likelihood that an offender will return to crime after release from prison, Specter said.

melanie.mason@latimes.com
Twitter: @melmason