Medical marijuana policy roils jail

Inmate with prescription spends day in solitary because of positive test, court records say

Perparim Kaja has a prescription for medical marijuana. But should that prescription be honored by Northampton County Jail?

That modern question came to the forefront last week when Kaja began serving a sentence for drunken driving. Though the 32-year-old Easton man was slated to spend seven days in jail and 23 days on work release, those plans were dashed after he tested positive for marijuana when he was admitted to the prison.

Under a jail policy, inmates with drugs like THC in their system aren’t permitted to go onto work release, though Kaja holds a well-paying job as a marble fabricator, according to his attorney, Colin Monahan. Though Kaja informed corrections officials that he had a valid marijuana card, he was told the jail “doesn’t recognize medical marijuana,” Monahan said.

Because of that, Kaja wound up spending a day in solitary confinement and a total of nine days in jail before Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden ordered his release Wednesday after Monahan complained his client was being denied work release, according to court records. McFadden asked county officials to consider how medical marijuana is handled and summoned them to a closed-door conference Friday to discuss the issue.

Kaja’s case highlights the uncertainty that changes to marijuana law carry, as pot remains a federal crime and still a dangerous drug in the minds of many Americans.

In a written statement afterward, Corrections Director James Kostura said that because the prison accepts federal funding and marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, there is little it can do.

“While the county is sympathetic to those individuals who use medical marijuana for health reasons, Northampton County cannot allow the use of this drug by those who are incarcerated in our jail,” Kostura said.

Monahan emerged from the meeting no happier than he was before. He said the jail continues to dismiss Kaja’s prescription, and will not allow him into work release until marijuana is cleared from his body, a process that can take weeks given the way it metabolizes.

“My guy sat in the hole for 24 hours, was in jail two days longer than he was supposed to be, went through all kinds of headaches for having his medication in his system,” said Monahan, who would not discuss his client’s underlying medical condition.

“All I can tell you is that it is prescribed to him in consultation with his doctor,” Monahan said.

Pennsylvania is one of 33 states with medical marijuana. It enacted its program in 2016 and this year, the Department of Health expanded its reach to include more ailments.

Recreational marijuana has also become part of the state’s political discussion, with Gov. Tom Wolf coming out in favor of legalizing pot Wednesday, the same day Kaja was released from jail. Attorney General Josh Shapiro added his support to legalization on Friday.

The changing climate has produced confusion even among departments in Northampton County’s justice system. Pretrial services, which monitors defendants who have unresolved cases, recognizes medical marijuana prescriptions and does not consider them a violation of bail conditions. So does the county probation office, which keeps tabs on defendants who have been convicted and placed under court-ordered supervision.

Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana law made clear that prisons can continue to prohibit inmates from having marijuana. The law says inmates can still face “civil, criminal or other penalty” for possessing or using the drug while imprisoned and that extends to facilities offering community corrections programs like work release.

But in situations like Kaja’s, Northampton County handles medical marijuana differently than its most immediate neighbor. In Lehigh County, work release isn’t barred to those inmates who initially test positive for marijuana, though they are not permitted to use their prescriptions while in custody, said Lehigh County Corrections Director Janine Donate.

“If an inmate is granted immediate work release and is then admitted to the facility, they are sent to work release even though they’ve tested positive for marijuana,” Donate said. “They will then be retested after a prescribed time period has passed.”

In the state prison system, medical marijuana is also not allowed, said Maria Finn, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections. That includes at halfway houses, where prisoners transition back into society, she said.

But once state inmates are released on parole, they are permitted to have marijuana prescriptions, as long as their parole plan does not contain a specific prohibition against the drug’s use, Finn said.

It is unclear how other jails across the nation are handling such questions. Joel Huffer, a spokesman for the American Jail Association, noted that jails, unlike state prisons, are decentralized and operate under policies set by local governments.

Because of that, “jails in neighboring counties may handle a similar situation very differently,” Huffer said. “So there is no one-size-fits-all category when talking about jails.”

The confusion over marijuana extends beyond the corrections system.

Last year, Bethlehem voted to decriminalize small amounts of pot. But because the city sits in two different counties, the ordinance has only been partly implemented — Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli signed off on the effort, while Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin opposes it.

In August, Lehigh County Judge Maria Dantos ruled in favor of a Germansville man whose car was searched by state police because it smelled of marijuana, though he had a prescription for it. Troopers found an illegal firearm but Dantos suppressed the evidence, ruling they lacked basis for the search — a decision appealed by prosecutors.

In Kaja’s case, Northampton County prosecutors took no public position on whether he should be allowed into work release despite his failed drug test, saying that’s up to the jail.

“We’re not involved,” said First Deputy District Attorney Terry Houck. “That has nothing to do with us. Whatever they decide, they decide.”

Kaja’s was arrested for drunken driving early Oct. 26 on North Third Street in downtown Easton. Court records do not indicate what his blood-alcohol level was, but police said he was under the influence of alcohol and “several controlled substances.”

The charges marked Kaja’s second conviction for drunken driving, and he was accepted into the county’s Alternative Sentencing Program, which includes a week in jail, 23 days of work release, and then 60 days of house arrest.

In ordering Kaja released, McFadden threw out that sentence. She scheduled him to reenter the program in November, and said he’ll get credit for the time he’s already spent in prison.

By then, presumably, marijuana will be out of his system and he’ll be eligible for work release.