Maryland aims 'drug buster' at prisons' visitors, workers

By IVAN PENN
Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE The handheld vacuum looks like a Dust Buster, but it collects
more than just lint. Call it the drug buster.

With this new drugdetection system, called the Ionscan 400, the state is
searching for the most minute traces of illegal narcotics on people who
visit or work at Maryland's prisons. Officials say it's more accurate than
a drugsniffing dog and never gets tired or needs food or exercise.

"The message we're sending is if you're a bad person and trying to get
drugs into our prisons, we're going to catch you," said William W.
Sondervan, an assistant commissioner for the state Division of Correction,
during a demonstration this week at the Maryland Correctional Institution
in Jessup.

"We think that most of our problems are with visitors, but once in a while
we have a bad apple on staff," said Sondervan, adding that the drug system
will be an investigative tool and not the only basis for arrests or
discipline against employees.

On the job since April

The state began using one of the $55,000 scanners made by Barringer
Instruments Inc. of New Providence, N.J. in April, and officials plan to
ask the state for money to purchase three more. The units would rotate
among the state's 25 institutions.

Use of the drugdetection system led to the arrest of a suspected drug
dealer charged with carrying drug paraphernalia in his car when he tried to
visit an inmate at the Jessup prison complex. The man, Shawn Donta Oliver,
goes on trial Jan. 9 in Anne Arundel County District Court.

And the prison system's internal affairs unit is investigating an officer
who had a high reading for the presence of cocaine when the 300 officers at
the Maryland House of Correction Annex were tested after a melee there in
May. No charges or personnel actions have been taken in that case.

Union officials said they are reviewing the technology and discussing it
with management.

"We don't know the specifics of this new drugdetection system yet," said
Diane King, a spokeswoman for the American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees, which represents Maryland's correctional officers.

Lowerthanaverage rate

Corrections officials say the Ionscan will help Maryland remain one of the
nation's leaders in the fight to keep drugs out of prisons. Only 3.9
percent of the inmates randomly tested in Maryland's prison system have
tested positive for drug use, compared with the national average of 8.9
percent, said Leonard A. Sipes Jr., a spokesman for the Department of
Public Safety and Correctional Services.

But Maryland clearly has had problems in recent times that point to a need
for drug interdiction in the state's prisons.

In May, Taikecha Wade, the girlfriend of convicted drug dealer Ronald
Mitchell, testified in Baltimore Circuit Court how she, her boyfriend and
others hid drugs in the soles of sneakers or in their mouths and passed
them to inmates during visits.

In July, officials at the Patuxent Institution increased security there
after two incidents in which drugs were found inside the prison. In one of
the cases, inmate Leon Hardy, 37, was found unconscious and foaming at the
mouth in his cell July 13. He died a short time later. An autopsy
determined that he died of a drug overdose.

Officials insist that Maryland's effort to keep drugs out of prisons is
among the best in the nation, and the scanner will simply improve their
efforts.

Here's how it works:

Using the handheld vacuum, an officer scans skin, clothing or even cash.
Particles from what was scanned are captured on a filter about the size of
the average index finger. That filter is placed inside a scanner that
determines the presence of as many as 20 narcotics.

The scanner identifies the narcotics after it has been given a sample of
the drugs from what is called a "calibrator stick" something like a tube
of lipstick that has particles of the drugs to be searched for.

A matter of seconds

After the scanner produces results which takes just seconds it
reports the presence of drugs. The computer says "pass" or "alarm" after
the scanning is complete.

The machine doesn't report quantity; it simply signals that a person has
had contact with a drug.

"This machine is similar to a dog's nose, only it is more accurate; it can
tell exactly what drug," said Maj. Douglas E. Cloman, commander of the
Division of Correction's Internal Investigative Unit. "But this machine
isn't a replacement of K9 detection dogs. It's an addition to the dogs."

If a person fails a scan, he or she would be searched for illegal drugs.
Those who refuse to be scanned will be denied access to prisons.

"We feel that it could be a major deterrent," Sondervan said.