NAPANOCH – Over the course of five days, corrections officers seized drugs and a scalpel from inmates at Ulster Correctional Facility in Napanoch.
The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, the union representing state prison officers, said searches conducted by staff found the contraband.
On Wednesday, February 26, an officer was conducting a search of an inmate’s cube when he located a small plastic bundle taped inside a bible. The bundle contained two Suboxone pills.
On Thursday, February 27, an officer saw two inmates on the floor in the day room. Both were unresponsive as a result of an apparent drug overdose. Several applications of Narcan had to be given to revive them. Both were transported to a local hospital for further treatment. It was not immediately known what drugs the inmates had used.
On Saturday, February 29, staff conducted a search of the inmate dorms and located a white bundle that was taped to the bottom of one of the inmate’s lockers. The bundle contained three orange strips that tested positive for Suboxone.
On Sunday, March 1, an officer making security rounds in a housing unit, noticed an inmate in the bathroom turn away and reach quickly into his pocket. The officer conducted a pat frisk and found a ceramic scalpel with a plastic handle in his pant pocket.
On Monday, March 2, during a search of an inmate’s cube, an officer recovered a plastic bundle inside a locker. In the bundle was a green leafy substance that tested positive for amphetamines. A second search of another inmate’s cube recovered a clear plastic bundle that contained Suboxone and a non-prescription anti-depressant.
“The constant battle to keep contraband from entering the prisons will continue to tie up staff until DOCCS reinstates the Secure Vendor Program statement and assigns a K-9 to every facility,” said NYSCOPBA Mid-Hudson Region Vice President Mike Mazzella. “In less than a week staff searches turned up drugs in inmates’ living quarters and a weapon on one inmate. It is quite obvious that under the current system contraband continues to get inside the facilities either through mailed packages or inmate visits.”
