Keeping a close watch
By Cindy Carcamo 
The Fresno Bee 
Published 03/31/03 05:35:09 

CORCORAN STATE PRISON -- Stationery, a pen and postage stamps are standard ingredients for a love letter. 

But inside the walls of Corcoran State Prison, these items could be instruments of death. 

A few sheets of paper and the barrel of a pen can be manipulated into lethal weapons. Stamps laced with LSD or methamphetamine can fuel the prison drug trade. 

Six mailroom staffers and a few officers are the first line of defense against contraband. They open more than 3,000 parcels a day, looking for items that could be used to kill or to provide a quick fix for an inmate. 

"I have a crew that's unbelievable and catches a lot of things," mailroom supervisor Sgt. Xavier Cano said. But he's the first to admit his staff can't stop everything. 

Inspectors catch only about 5% of drugs sent through the prison, estimated Squad Sgt. John Montgomery, assigned to the Investigative Services Unit. 

Drug contraband is a big problem at the prison, and the methods to sneak it through have become more sophisticated, said Lt. Johnny Castro, the prison's public information officer. 

A person's criminal activities don't stop when they reach prison, officials said. Prisoners make more money selling drugs in prison than on the outside. Drug prices are inflated because of a tight supply and the risks that go along with sneaking the drugs into the prison. 

A hit of heroin sells for about $10 on the streets. Inside Corcoran State Prison, the going rate is about $50, and the drug is not as pure, Montgomery said. 

Various methods used 

At Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, the price of dope is a good indicator of the amount of drugs coming through, prison spokesperson Lt. Paul Sanchez said. The inmate population there is about the same as at Corcoran, also home to a second prison specializing in treating inmates with substance-abuse problems. 

"If [the investigators are] doing their job, the supply is shortened," Sanchez said. 

When the supply is low, inmates start making home-brew wine, Sanchez added. That also is illegal but easier to pull off because it's done with items available in the prison. 

Money is the usual incentive that sparks the creativity that inmates and their accomplices put into sneaking drugs and other contraband into the prisons. 

Some things, such as narcotics, are clearly unacceptable at the prison. Other items are classified as contraband because they can be manipulated into weapons. 

"You see all kinds of things," Montgomery said. 

People have tried to smuggle drugs in almost every way imaginable, and most of it comes through the mailroom. 

One of the most proficient ways to ship drugs is in the care packages that families send. Most prisoners receive quarterly care packages, while inmates in the Security Housing Unit -- where the worst offenders are housed -- receive one package a year. 

The 30-pound boxes are often filled with goodies, such as candy and other snacks. 

About a month ago, Montgomery's investigative team discovered tiny baggies of heroin and marijuana among the morsels in boxes of Trix and Cap'n Crunch cereals. 

Montgomery explained how the yellow-colored pieces of cereal were crushed and then put back together, covering the bundles filled with drugs. 

"As soon as you opened [the box] up, you could smell the heroin," Montgomery said. 

"Some people have a lot time on their hands to figure things out," Cano said. 

He said drugs could be hidden in such unassuming items as lip balm, books and even greeting cards. 

For example, some people buy identical greeting cards, put heroin between them and iron the cards flat together, making them difficult to detect at first glance. 

That's why ChapStick is closely inspected and greeting cards that officials can't see through don't reach inmates. Books can be sent to prisoners only directly through vendors. 

Drugs often disguised 

Corcoran mailroom staffer Lorena Vasquez also looks for items that may seem harmless but can be deadly. 

Staples and large stacks of stationery are not allowed because they can be crafted into spears. Inmates can make a very hard, sharp weapon by rolling paper very tightly and brushing it with sugar water. 

Practically anything can be made into a weapon, Castro said. 

Vasquez said she uses all of her senses when she looks through the mail for her assigned department at the Security Housing Unit. 

One time, Vasquez said, she could smell the stench of methamphetamine coming from a piece of legal mail. 

By law, mailroom staff aren't allowed to open legal mail because of the attorney/client privilege. Vasquez told her boss of the smell, and he notified correctional officers, who are allowed to open legal letters in front of the prisoner. 

That sort of communication is key, Cano said. The mailroom can't do it all, so they rely on correctional officers who have contact with the inmates. 

These guards talk with informants, monitor phone calls and search cells and common areas for narcotics and weapons on a regular basis. 

"You have to put yourself in their shoes," Montgomery said. "If I were in here, how would I do this?" 

Drug ties scrutinized 

Officers also keep watch on prisoners who have significant drug ties. 

It's a constant game of officers catching on to methods of sneaking contraband, and prisoners figuring out another way to do it, Montgomery said. 

In 2002, the Investigative Services Unit investigated about seven attempts to sneak drugs into the Corcoran prison. 

If caught with contraband such as drugs, the inmate could be sent to lockup for 30 days. If convicted of trafficking drugs, inmates could be moved to a maximum-security unit. 

Many times, investigations take Montgomery and others outside Corcoran to serve search warrants at the homes of contraband-sending suspects. 

Recently, prison investigators caught up with a woman in Orange County who dipped postcards into a Pyrex bowl filled with liquid meth. She dried the cards and mailed them to a prisoner at Corcoran. 

The cards were then split into smaller squares and sold to inmates, Montgomery said. The woman is now serving four years in Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla. 

The Investigative Security Unit solves about half of the contraband cases at the prison, Montgomery said. 

"We just don't have the manpower," he added. "State budget the way it is -- we don't have the money." 

While drugs often prove elusive to screeners, most other contraband is stopped before it reaches prisoners, Cano said. 

Prison officials consider a number of items contraband, such as pictures including frontal nudity and magazine articles about murder and mayhem. Maxim and other men's magazines are banned. 

"It does contribute to escalated violence," Cano said. Prison officials believe the risqué pictures can spark violence and assaults upon female correctional officers. 

Busy time of year 

All magazines are screened by prison officials before they are given to prisoners. 

The period from the day after Thanksgiving through mid-February is the busiest time of year for the mailroom. Most of the 4,800 inmates at the Corcoran prison receive holiday mail, flooding mailroom staff with more work and overtime hours, Cano said. 

"It's chaotic," he said. 

Homemade greeting cards get extra attention, and they must meet the same requirements as commercial cards. They are not given to prisoners unless they are thin enough to see through, Vasquez said. 

This means makeshift cards that Junior may have created with construction paper and crayon-colored messages don't make it in. 

As a mother, Vasquez said, she sometimes feels bad because that card won't make it to a father serving time at the prison. 

"But what my job requires is to follow all the guidelines," she said. 

The reporter can be reached at  ccarcamo@fresnobee.com  or 622-2419. 
 

© 2002 , The Fresno Bee 

Note:  This article does not take into consideration that most drugs are brought into the Prison by guards and other personnel.  The mail of those in prison for non-drug offenses should not be a problem.