MINNEAPOLIS — Investigators have retrieved new evidence showing how prison inmates continue to smuggle narcotics, including now through books and magazines.
John Melvin, Director of the Office of Special Investigations for the Minnesota Department of Corrections, told WCCO Investigates that the contraband is extremely tough to detect and they’ve relied on “intelligence” to intercept the drugs.
“There are people that want to use and they want to get high, and they will do just about anything to try to introduce that,” Melvin lamented.
Starting in June, staff at Stillwater, Rush City and Faribault correctional facilities began screening, scanning and reprinting mail after investigators discovered pieces of legal and personal mail stained and contaminated with synthetic narcotics .
Still, a recent two-day lockdown at Stillwater caused by an inmate smoking an unknown substance underscored the limits of the pilot program and the risks of persistent drug smuggling.