It’s Really Easy to Smuggle Drugs Into Rikers Island Prison, Investigation Finds

It’s been a bad public relations year for the
violence– and
corruption-plagued Rikers Island Correctional Facility in New
York City. Reports of prison guards savagely
bludgeoning inmates to death—and more often than not getting
off
scot-free. Hundreds of inmates suffering serious injury from

guard brutality. A culture of
fear and intimidation to suppress any repercussions for
officers and their superiors. And all this at a
hefty price for taxpayers.

But the truculent guards at Rikers don’t only spend their time
brutalizing inmates—they also act as well-paid couriers, secreting
drugs and other contraband into the prison. Last month, an
undercover Department of Investigation (DOI) agent managed to
smuggle $22,000 worth of illicit goods into all six facilities on
Rikers Island. The New York Times
reports:

The pockets of his cargo pants, according to the report, were
bulging with 250 packets of heroin; 24 strips of Suboxone, a pain
killer; and half a pound of marijuana.

He was also carrying a razor blade and a water bottle full of
vodka.

The undercover agent would’ve been handsomely paid for his
services,
according to the DOI report:

DOI estimates, based on intelligence it has gathered, that a
[Department of Corrections] employee could make approximately
$3,600 in courier fees for the amount of contraband smuggled during
each operation.

Over the past year and a half, six guards and a nurse have been
arrested for smuggling at Rikers. The DOI investigation reports
that correctional officers sneaked in thousands of dollars worth of
drugs, tobacco, and alcohol to inmates who then resold the products
to other prisoners. Tobacco alone is quite a lucrative enterprise,
with a pack of cigarettes reportedly
costing upwards of $200 in NYC’s smoke free jails.

The DOI blames the prison’s smuggling problem on lax security
protocols and their rather insouciant enforcement. When the
undercover investigator set off a metal detector at one facility, a
guard asked him to empty his pockets. The investigator lied, saying
that he had already done so, and the guard let him pass through the
checkpoint without batting an eye.

Based on its findings, the report recommends drug sniffing dogs,
more oversight of staff entrances, and implementation of
Transportation Security Administration–style security procedures.
Because
those work so well.

The great irony is, of course, that even in a prison on an
island, officials can’t break apart the quid pro quo between drug
users and their suppliers. But don’t worry, America. Once we
finally get that
border fence up and running, we’ll finally be able to make some
progress in the war on drugs.