Dangerous Elements Continue to Plague Prisons Across the Country

On Behalf of | Oct 10, 2024 | Criminal Defense, Felonies |

Uncertainty Remains Around Prisoners Safety in the Face of Hurricanes

With Hurricane Milton approaching (and now passed), several county jails and prisons in the evacuation zone in Florida announced that they would not evacuate inmates before the storm made landfall, choosing instead to weather out the storm. Numerous officials defended the policy by pointing out that many of the prisons are built/designed with hurricanes in mind so that they can move up floors if necessary, as well as support the logistical issues in moving so many inmates. “Evacuation of a correctional facility is a complex operation involving significant security, logistics, and staffing concerns,” said former FEMA head Craig Fugate, “For many facilities, especially those constructed to withstand hurricanes, sheltering in place with additional preparations is the standard response.” Still, families and loved ones of those inside the numerous prisons/jails in the path of the hurricane voiced their concerns and reportedly asked for their early release. This comes just weeks after it was reported that inmates in a state prison in North Carolina were locked in their cells continuously for days without access to light or running water, sometimes sleeping amongst bags of their own excrement, in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

Inmates Requiring Medical Treatment After Exposure to Drugs in Illinois Prisons

There has also been an alarming trend in several Illinois prisons in which a seemingly increasing number of inmates and staff have required medical attention after being exposed to harmful drugs that are being imported through the mail. The drugs are said to routinely arrive with the mail, in which pieces of paper have intoxicating chemicals spread over the paper which is invisible to the naked eye when it is dried and is then cut up and sold in individual squares, with one union president that represents prison staff claiming that one, “eight-and-a-half by 11 sheet of paper…can make [inmates] up to $15,000” by selling the squares. That is why several politicians and the union are pushing for prisons to move to a digital model to replace the physical mail delivery, in which the mail is scanned and then forwarding to a tablet to eliminate smuggling operations, as it is done currently at the federal level. Some of the prisons reporting these issues include Menards, Pinckneyville, Shawnee and Big Muddy correctional centers, but union leadership argues that the practice and exposure happens every day to staffers and inmates alike. Prosecutions for the smuggling of drug-soaked paperwork is also on rise, particularly in Cook County where there have been multiple reported prosecutions. If you are being investigated or prosecuted for introducing contraband into a penal institution or detention facility, you should contact an experienced and the best criminal defense attorney you can afford for representation.

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