Corruption and smuggling are not new to prisons. On occasion, even prison guards are involved with the smuggling. A recent arrest of a Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) prison guard has shown that drugs can find their way into even the most secure facility.
Matthew Gutierrez has been charged with attempting to distribute cocaine inside the downtown San Diego federal prison. Officials say Gutierrez made contact with an inmate asking if the prisoner knew anyone that could sell him drugs. The inmate found a dealer who would provide cocaine to Gutierrez, but this was not your normal drug dealer.
The inmate had set Gutierrez up with a confidential informant who told law enforcement about the plan. After he was arrested, Gutierrez said that the cocaine, with a street value of $4,000, would have brought in at least $8,000 in sales to inmates. While Gutierrez may have been caught, the issue is still a major concern of prison officials.
Challenges Facing California Prisons
Already overcrowded prisons are dealing with staffing shortages and a different kind of inmate. The downtown prison used to house lesser federal offenders, those who had engaged in nonviolent crimes. Now the inmates are younger and tied to drugs and street gangs. These connections can cause fighting inside prisons between rival gangs. Mandatory minimum sentences mean many of these offenders will not be going anywhere anytime soon, making it easy for guards to find someone who can point them toward a willing drug supplier. For those that work inside prisons, the temptation to make a substantial amount of extra money may be too much to overcome.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons has take some steps toward restricting the ways in which drugs make it into prisons such as MCC. Visitors and staff must pass through sophisticated equipment which can detect the presence of drugs before entering the facility. Any property going into the building will be x-rayed. Even with all of these preventative measures, some drugs will still escape detection. Law enforcement members that violate the public's trust by bringing drugs into prisons risk aggressive prosecution.
