After we have done our due diligence and found contraband, what options do we have in regards to enforcement? Depending on facility rules, state laws and even how supportive your administration is, that answer may vary drastically. I’ll start out by clarifying that I am not an expert on the laws of all 50 states, nor do I have a deep knowledge about many other facilities other than the jail I have spent my last 19 and a half years working in. I will say we have some areas I believe we are progressive on and do a great job with, and others we can improve on. I will also add that we are six months away from the opening of a new facility.
What can we do? What should we do?
What options do we have for enforcement? Prosecute, take away goodtime, issues tickets, restrict activities out of the cell/pod, administrative segregation? All viable options, but what works best? Honestly, there is no right answer. All facilities have their own style, but I believe it best to keep an open mind and use a variety of options based on the situation at hand.
At my agency, we have a good relationship with our county prosecutor, so when we have cases that are criminal they do issues charges. That certainly helps get the word out to our prisoners. If you dare take a chance, we will prosecute. Sure, if you’re facing life in prison for murder, getting charged with possessing a few pills or even a shank is pretty low risk. That’s where internal discipline has to play into the factor.
The problem with prosecution is that we can only charge for possession of contraband if the item is illegal to possess on the outside or is a weapon. So for example, if you smuggle in your own prescription medication, we cannot prosecute for prisoner in possession of contraband. Remember, this will vary from state to state or even how each court jurisdiction interprets the law.
I would daresay that most contraband issues are dealt with internally verses prosecution. In small jails, we encounter problems of limited space to move prisoners for administrative reasons. Even in bigger jails, the on-going task of maintaining administrative restrictions can be overwhelming due to the higher than normal volume of issues encountered. Legally, we can only take away good time prisoners have earned to date and not what they will earn in the future.
Good time punishment
In Michigan prisoners earn five days per month for a total of 60 days in a year. If they have served six months when a violation occurs we can only take up to 30 days due to the violation and then only with due process as they have the right to a discipline hearing. One other good option is if they were sentenced to probation, we can pursue a probation violation. That is, of course, if they are sentenced to jail, and not awaiting trial on a more serious case that will result in prison time. Also add in that a fair share of contraband issues we encounter come from newly sentenced prisoners that knew they were going to jail, and thus smuggled in drugs. They have earned zero days of goodtime, so we can take just that zero days.
In prison there are even more issues of concern, but there are also benefits. Some prisoners are short time prisoners and some are facing a life sentence. Short timers at least have to worry about a parole date, whereas lifers like to remind us that we can’t stop time. The benefits are that prisons have more room to move prisoners, allowing better use of an effective classification system. Let me clarify: more room in the fact they are bigger and have more location across the state to transfer prisoners to. We all know the correctional system across the country is filled to the seams.
It all goes back to administration
Whether it be a jail or a prison, one thing is a must: administration must be supportive.
The discipline process is ineffective if we do not have a solid system in place. We need policies on how to start the discipline process and steps for hearing and appeals. But even with the best policy in the country it is meaningless if our administration refuses to let us do something to prevent and enforce the rules.
I believe that is commonly referred to as the “hug a thug” mentality. Unfortunately, if your facility suffers from that mentality, you may be limited on options. But if your agency is progressive and takes contraband seriously at the top levels, it needs to trickle down to the front line. There is no doubt in my mind that prisoners need to learn a lesson the hard way.
If you are the front line worker you also need to take the hard line and follow through on the find. Make sure you properly document and report your contraband findings and request discipline as appropriate. Remember to pick you battles, though. The punishment must fit the violation. If you always try to hammer every little find with the biggest penalty possible, you tend to have less power to lay the hammer down when you hit the grand slam of finds. I am not saying go easy, but consider all options and lay the law down as it best fits the situation at hand.
Conclusion
Regardless of your enforcement options, you need to know your system and use it in the best way possible. Every component needs to work in sync and together at each step.
Fellow officers need to work together and support one another, supervisors need to back up their subordinates, administration needs to make sure policies are fair, firm and progressive and you need a prosecutor that will support you in perusing charges on those that appropriate.
By working together we can all be part of a successful contraband enforcement tool.