Drugs and Official Corruption

Pubdate: Tue, 06 Feb 2007
Source: Buffalo News (NY)Copyright: 2007 The Buffalo News
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Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/61

PRISON GUARD ADMITS TO HEROIN SMUGGLING
SARANAC LAKE - A guard has pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle heroin into the prison where he worked.The plea resulted from an investigation into contraband that has led to the firings or resignation of several other guards.
Michael D. Bradish, 34, of Plattsburgh, pleaded guilty Friday in Franklin County Court to attempted promoting prison contraband and attempted drug possession as well as misdemeanor official misconduct.
Prosecutors said Bradish was part of a network that delivered heroin mailed from New York City to Bare Hill, a medium-security facility for men.Authorities also charged two other state corrections officers.

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There is no surprise here: official corruption is always a companion of prohibition laws. By 1930, over 1/3 of the Federal Prohibition Bureau had been convicted, fired, or forced to resign because of official corruption. At that time, because of the Director's involvement in the criminal activities of Nicky Arnstein, the entire Bureau was dissolved and reorganized.

In the late 1950s, the Bureau of Narcotics in the Treasury was disbanded and replaced by the Bureau of Dangerous and Narcotic Drugs in the Justice Department because of wide-spread corruption among its agents.

In 1999, the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the National Association of Police Chiefs said that police corruption was the major law enforcement problem in the nation. We have recently seen two New York detectives convicted for acting as Mafia hitmen while they were on the police force.

Studies show that drug use in prisons occurs at the same frequeny it does outside prisons except for maximum security units -- there the usage is twice that of the outside world. This level of drug use in prison cannot occur without the knowledge, and even actual complicity, of the prison staff.

Money is the cause, the corruptor. When Texas prisons became non-smoking, prison guards starting being caught smuggling tobacco into the prisons in large numbers. At that time, generic cigarettes could be bought outside for about $3 for a pack of 20 cigarettes. Inside, a third of a cigarette could be sold for $5. A guard, earning about $20,000 per year could easily turn a $3 investment into $300 --tqx free. This is a job that attracts the undereducated and unskilled, living in rural areas without many other job opportunities. Were many of them tempted?

The other corrupter is futility. Police working drugs see that they are not accomplishing anything. As soon as they arrest a dealer, anew one takes his place. Only about 5% of the drugs coming across the borders are found and seized. Since they are not doing any good, why not take the money?

We have prohibition laws; they have not reduced drug use, but the have corrupted our justice system.