Contraband adds to state prison strains
THE Department of Corrections has a big problem with crowding. A recent story underscores some of the headaches that result when prisons are filled beyond capacity and there aren’t enough correctional officers to keep adequate watch.
DOC officials report that three inmates at the minimum-security Jess Dunn Correctional Center in Taft overdosed on synthetic opioids one night last week. Their lives were saved by firstresponders using the anti-overdose drug Narcan.
The overdoses were reported in the span of about 15 minutes — first one inmate, then another, then another, was found in various stages of distress in various parts of the prison. All three men were taken to an area hospital for assessment and treatment, and were back behind bars the next day.
DOC Director Joe Allbaugh thanked the Legislature for providing the funding this year to place supplies of Narcan at all 24 state prisons. “Three people are alive today thanks to that drug and our staff’s training,” Allbaugh said.
Yet the fight to keep contraband out of prisons is never ending, and is made especially challenging by the fact the DOC has only 62 percent of the corrections officers it needs. The Legislature this year provided the funding for a small bump in pay (96 cents per hour) for these men and women, but the starting wage of $13.74 per hour remains less than what most convenience stores pay for help.
The percentage of correctional officers is shrinking quickly. Allbaugh has had to close one unit at the prison in Sayre because of a lack of manpower. “That unit represents 360 beds we desperately need,” he said.
The manpower shortage plays a role in the number of cellphones that make their way into prisons. Access to these phones doesn’t just give convicts the chance to call home, but also allows them to continue their criminal enterprises from behind bars, including getting drugs smuggled into the prisons.
The Corrections Department has seized about 5,900 cellphones this year. In 2017, 6,873 phones were confiscated. The year before that, the total was 9,766.
Allbaugh traveled to Washington, D.C., recently to speak with the Federal Communications Commission about using available technology to block cellphone transmission within prisons.
“Cellphones, as well as drugs, come into prisons through drops, visitation and even staff members,” Allbaugh said. “We do what we can with the resources available, but more must be done before someone dies.”
Keeping prisons packed to the rafters comes with a cost. It’s not unreasonable for Allbaugh to hope — even expect — that as Oklahoma’s economy continues to improve and additional revenue flows into state coffers, lawmakers will consider steering a bit of that his department’s way to pay for technology, provide substance abuse treatment for inmates, and to perhaps attract more security staff.