At Virginia prisons, inmates are employed to make lots of profitable products – like these license plates, or the metal grates needed to secure dogs and people in transit.
“We did all of the automotive, all of the canine units. Anything in the prisons that have to made – the doors, the tables, the file cabinets, desks – and it’s millions of dollars’ worth of work.”
This inmate, who asked that we not use his name, says his state-of-the-art workshop at the Dilwyn Correctional Center also housed a moonshine still for more than two years.
“It was pretty genius. It was disguised. I know where it was, and there was no one in the shop that didn’t know.”
And like the metal works, the moonshine-making proved profitable.
“You know what a 16-ounce Mountain Dew bottle is? $165!”
Unable to pin the enterprise on a particular inmate, the state dismissed most of the metal shop employees. Meanwhile, sources tell RadioIQ that another drug is circulating through state prisons – an insecticide sprayed on paper.
“I’ve never seen anything like it," recalls our source. "These guys smoke roach spray. I’ve seen men dive off of bunks. I’ve seen them try to climb walls. One guy rode a wheelchair and was preaching to us. It’s insane what it does to them, and they cannot wait to get it. It’s because they’re so short-staffed. There’s no one around.”
Drugs are also said to be circulating at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women, and anyone found to be using there will lose her job.
“But now they have enhanced sanctions which includes taking video visits, person-to-person or telephone calls for two years.”
Lana Slaughter is now paying the price for what she says was a first offense.
“My mother got sick in June, and I lost her. She passed the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and due to this trouble, I never got to have a visit with my mom prior to her passing. It’s devastating. I do push on, but it’s very hard. It makes you just want to give up. You know there’s not a whole lot to keep you going if you can’t have your family.”
And at the Goochland Correctional Center for Women, Kandi Harner says the punitive policies in state prisons make life for a mother even more miserable.
“I have two young daughters. I can’t even call home to make sure my children are okay.”
She claims addicts with multiple offenses may be barred from phone calls or visits for a decade or more. Ironically, experts say strong family support is one key to kicking a drug habit – a point reinforced by inmates who appeared In a video commissioned by the Department of Corrections.
“Getting high was constantly leading me down a destructive path, but I wanted my family to know that I’m trying to do right.”
“I’ve got two beautiful daughters and a son in the military. Substance use in my family goes as far back as my great, great grandparents, but my children today – they have broken that generational curse.”
“I had a talk with God – a long talk, and I made a commitment to myself, Him and my family that substances would never enter my body ever again, and I’ve been clean ever since that day.”
And the prison’s chief medical officer, Dr. Paul Targonski, points out that drug addiction is a disease.
“It’s not a moral failing. It’s not a weakness. The more we learn, the more we understand the biology of this, and it’s right there in the brain. There are chemical changes in the brain, and it’s a chronic disease.”
So why does the state persist in punishing drug addicts behind bars? We’ll explore that question and look at what officials hope will eliminate substance abuse -- a problem facing more than 65% of those sentenced to do time in Virginia.
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Virginia’s Department of Corrections is the largest agency in the state, costing taxpayers $1.6 billion. Twenty-three thousand men and women are behind bars, and 66% of them entered prison with a substance abuse problem. As Sandy Hausman reports, drugs are still available in many facilities, but the state is using programs and punishment to help prisoners quit and stay clean.
Last year, Virginia got over a million dollars from a court settlement reached with opioid producers. The money would fund six social workers to work with prisoners at a half dozen correctional centers, to pay for a pilot program using medication to help people overcome addiction and to produce a 20-minute video in which inmates share their stories.
"I suffered some trauma when I was a child, so by the age of 12 I was already into heavy drug use."
I grew up around alcoholism, so it was the norm. By the time I got to 12 years old I began to experiment with drugs and alcohol."
"My mother was an addict. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. As an honor-roll, A student, I still found my way into addiction."
The department’s medical director explains that addiction is a disease marked by real changes in the brain – not a moral failing. Still, the woman who heads an effort to help prisoners kick their habits notes recovery is possible.
"Time and time again we’ve seen individuals with lengthy criminal histories, with years of addiction behind them, but one day they make the commitment and make the decision to stay abstinent from drugs and work on themselves."
Administrator Jessica Lee says there are residential programs for drug addicts at several state prisons and bi-weekly group counseling at others. Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous may be available, and there are 45 former addicts who have gone through 72 hours of training to become Peer Recovery Specialists. For some, it’s those individuals who make the difference.
Still, she says, there’s a limit to how many prisoners can be served.
“There is such a shortage of behavioral health workers, so we do our very best with the resources we have, + but it is based on severity and need.”
She knows relapse is often part of the recovery process, but when it happens the system responds with punishment. Anyone caught with drugs -- even over-the-counter medications not in the original packaging – will be barred from visits and phone calls with family and friends for two years.
“Sometimes we have to experience consequences to say, ‘Okay, I want to make that change.’”
Again, Director of Recovery and Re-Entry Services Jessica Lee.
“There are opportunities for individuals to be able to go through programs and get well and then potentially have those sanctions revisited, but we want individuals to be safe.”
She cites the risk of drug poisoning and overdose, adding that it’s not easy to tell who is using drugs in prison and who is selling them.
Prisoners say the loss of visits and phone calls takes a heavy toll on their mental health, making it even harder to kick a drug habit, and they complain that the department locks inmates in their cells for days at a time while guards search for contraband. Tim Wright, for example, has no record of substance abuse.
“I pay the consequences and the penalty for this war on drugs in DOC that has nothing to do with me, and DOC does absolutely nothing for those guys like myself who stay out of trouble.”
We asked the state for statistics. How many inmates are now in drug treatment? How many are on waiting lists? How many have successfully completed programs, and how many doctors are available to prescribe the medication needed to help addicts quit. After several weeks of waiting, the department said it was still processing an answer to our questions.
Earlier this month, however, the state issued a press release boasting that it had arrested three people, including a former guard, seizing more than $300,000 worth of methamphetamine, fentanyl, marijuana, tobacco, buprenorphine (used to treat addiction) and naloxone (used to prevent overdoses).
