AUSTIN, TexasIt's the zombies that freak everybody out. Sirchie did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "I can't even count how many people I saw that happen to," Blaisure says of inmates being hit with bogus contraband accusations, "but I can guarantee you I'm one of the very few that I know of that took it all the way to federal court and won.". Although police departments must rely on crime labs to confirm or invalidate field tests, that doesn't stop innocent people from being arrested and jailed based on preliminary test kits. This combination is designed to provide relief from opioid withdrawal symptoms without giving the user a high. But in the past two years, prison officials say they have launched a continuing series of targeted crackdowns on visitors and guards who are smuggling it to convicts and on inmates who pay up to $500 an ounce to have it smuggled in to them. The paper is then cut up into small pieces and smoked. The footage shows the officer performing a NARK II test for methamphetamines, which turned dark red instead of blue, indicating a negative result, according to the manufacturer. Because Suboxone contains naloxone, its difficult to overdose, but its still possible. "K2 is the new drug of choice, inside and outside of prison," said Bruce Toney, inspector general for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the detective force that busts illegal activity inside Texas' 110 state prisons - the nation's largest state-run system. Crime: Killing and dismembering 3-year-old Adam Gomez of Scottsbluff in 1999 and feeding some of his remains to a dog. Most of our assaults (of staff) are linked to K2, he said. Basinger said the measure is necessary to prevent liquid K2 from entering the prison system. If you do get a red light at a certain batch, you can say one or more letters in this batch are suspect, put them aside and deal with them later.. Your shot is staying the way it is. The extra searches are stressing staffing levels, especially at the Tecumseh State Prison, which currently has 135 job vacancies, said Chipman, the union chief. Roughly two months after Steffey's release, the New York Department of Corrections and Community Services (DOCCS) suddenly suspended use of drug field tests produced by another company, Sirchie. K-2 is a synthetic marijuana product in liquid form, and was recently reported to be responsible for 90 overdoses in. Crime:four murders during a 2013 killing spree in Omaha. One of its more common product names is Kush. Harris County, Texas, and Portland, Oregon, did the same in 2016. ALL TEST RESULTS MUST BE CONFIRMED BY AN APPROVED ANALYTICAL LABORATORY! a note for a NARK II product on Sirchies website reads. Toney said authorities are serious about cutting off the supply inside prisons: "If you're trying to bring it in, if you throw it out on the grounds for someone else to bring it in, we're gonna catch you and you're gonna be wearing matching uniforms with the person you came to see.". identifies important training information, interacts with each other and In 2011, a United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture concluded that solitary confinement beyond 15 days constituted cruel and inhumane punishment. Trace detection tools can help make mail inspection faster and more thorough. You can buy the infused A4 plain paper and write a letter to send to your buddy in prison. On the recreation yard at dusk, clouds of smoke appear over the bleachers from all the people smoking K2. He's saying that the tests don't provide reliable positive or negative evidence in the first place and that untrained BOP staffers are misusing and misinterpreting the tests. | So the incarcerated people who are accused can either quickly accept responsibility and face lesser punishment despite being innocent, or give up privileges and possibly enter solitary confinement while awaiting more accurate lab data. "The substance was determined to be chocolate. In 1989, a 4th Circuit Court of Appeals panel rejected an inmate's argument that relying solely on unconfirmed positive results to impose sanctions violated the right to procedural due process. Before that, authorities said it was even harder to bust anyone - even convicts - for possessing it. These are mind-altering chemicals created by humans or sprayed on dried, crushed plant material for smoking, or sold as a liquid to evaporate and breathe in cigarettes and other devices. In April, a search of a prison in Clarinda, Iowa, found 60 inmates involved in consuming or possessing K2, prompting new precautions to keep the liquid form from being smuggled in. Synthetic marijuana, often referred to as K2 or Spice, is a catch-all term for lab-created variants of THC, the chemical in marijuana that causes a high. In 2017, Steffey was serving a nine-year sentence at Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Lompoc, a low-security federal prison in California, for his role in an online identity theft ring. However, there is technology available to test for synthetic marijuana. And he seemingly had good reason to be: The incarcerated person lost their job and received a disciplinary ticket, was confined to a cell, and was threatened with a potential $100 fee if a future confirmatory lab test came back positive, according to the lawsuit. Going through the mail piece by piece places a huge drain on staffing resources, as COs have to inspect each piece. Follow him on Twitter @PaulHammelOWH. LINCOLN A new form of easily concealed synthetic marijuana is causing increased work, as well as concerns about overdoses, increased assaults and staff safety, at jails and prisons in Nebraska. Presumptive positive drug tests give the prosecutors leverage with which to pressure defendants in this way. "I had been in the HVAC apprenticeship program for four years, and I was risking losing all that over this faulty NIK test kit," Abarca says. A member of the security team at the prison said these guys who use K2 are often zombie-like: Theyre just groaning, moaning and not able to understand anything thats being said to them. SCI Huntingdon first noticed K2 about eighteen months ago. Copyright 2023 The officers concede that some of their fellow guards are probably sneaking it in, as well, to make extra money on the side. Tom Wolf halted all mail delivery and. Because the full range of chemicals that falls into this category is constantly changing and not fully understood, the full range of symptoms is likewise not well known. More than 200 Nebraskans died of drug overdoses in 2020, an increase of nearly 43% from the previous year, according to a new federal report. They blamed much of the problem on relatives and friends of convicts because they smuggle it in on visitation days. "Atoms can combine together in groupswe call them functional groupsand these color tests are simply looking for the presence of a particular group," Harris says. Last year in Georgia, a college football quarterback was arrested after bird poop on his car tested presumptive positive for cocaine. Of the 950 contraband busts inside Texas prisons between January and mid-June, 477 involved illegal drugs - and 268 of those, more than half, were for possessing K2, according to state statistics. Synthetic weed On the street, the same liquid in many areas sells for $100 or more an ounce, officials said. Enter https://www.corrections1.com/ and click OK. Almost no one else ever does. Contraband drugs are a big problem in correctional facilities, especially Suboxone and synthetic versions of marijuana, often called K2 or Spice. Look for a box or option labeled Home Page (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) or On Startup (Chrome). Its not the same kind of rush the user might get from a narcotic like fentanyl, but for an addict or someone looking to get high, it's better than nothing. K2 liquid drugs are also used in various combinations with both. If in doubt, read My Comments Policy. And in prison, a "positive" field test can be enough to get inmates thrown in solitary confinement and stripped of other privileges. As a result of the infraction, Blaisure spent 30 days in the SHU. You can buy the infused A4 plain paper and write a letter to send to your buddy in prison. "When they find that group, they then proceed to go through a reaction that has a color as its product.". (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). Procedures and protocols used by correctional facilities can vary, but one idea for efficient use according to Frunzi is: You can take one swab for the IONSCAN 600, drag it across 10 or 20 pieces of mail, and as long as the machine says the swab is clean, you confirmed that all 20 pieces of mail are clean. It has had a negative impact on my health and my family, as any accusation against Mr. Ivey was effectively an accusation that I committed a serious criminal offense.. Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 5 customer ratings. One prisoner wrote how he received a misconduct report accusing him of having K2 in a bottle he said held only shampoo. The latest security screening technology can help keep officers and inmates safe by mitigating the risk of unrest, illness and debt which often result from access to illicit goods and improvised or smuggled weapons. The court held a lengthy evidentiary hearing, where it became clear that the local district attorney's office frequently used NIK test kits as evidence to obtain grand jury indictments, despite a number of innocent people having been indicted and clear warnings from Safariland that the tests should be verified. Its also a significant risk, because those COs are potentially exposed to whatever illicit substance might be lurking in the mail. We're going to go with what happened in the office. Lexipol. and Privacy Policy. | The punishment for synthetic marijuana is essentially a slap on the wrist. So the apparent silence on the extensive the use of synthetic marijuana use in U.S. prisons is curious to me. "The prisons have really gone off on their own to use it as this kind of one and only definitive test for whatever punishment or other purposes they're using it for. I'll pay my own money to have it sent to a lab.". A common smuggling route is to hide the strips under postage stamps, stickers or tape. "I knew it was '2,'" prison lingo for K2, a synthetic marijuana that now reigns as fastest-growing drug contraband in Texas' massive prison system. It's a trend being played out nationally, as well, that officials say endangers the safety of convicts and prison staff. Crime:The 2002 Norfolk bank robbery; he shot and killed Lola Elwood, a bank employee. NARK only tests for the possible presence of certain chemical compounds. I refuse to believe that every defense attorney in Massachusetts is suddenly a drug dealer.. Nebraska prisons are implementing a similar system. When used to test for drugs sprayed on paper (such as legal mail), these tests are less accurate than witchcraft, phrenology, or simply picking a number out of a hat, the lawsuit alleges. Add to cart. Sign up here. Join The Leaders In K2 Papers! This paper is odorless and colorless. One was spaced out of his mind. "But I promise you, it happens to people on the street too. "The relevant question is whether there is any evidence in the record that could support the conclusion reached by the disciplinary board.". In 2016, sheriff's deputies in Monroe County, Georgia, arrested Macon resident Dasha Fincher after a search of her car turned up a plastic baggie of blue crystals. He insists it had nothing to do with drugs. Investigators suggested Hernandez killed Odin Lloyd because he didnt want information about his bisexuality to become public knowledge. Six staff members were caught smuggling drugs, including. In recent months, numerous state and federal prison officials across the United States have acknowledged growing problem in their systems with K2, as have prison officials overseas in England and other countries. For years, the public has been barred from mailing books to inmates from their homes to prevent contraband shipments. It's a versatile drug that can give birth to several forms and uses. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images). "One of the many examples of the NIK testing errors was a case where heroin was identified using a NIK colorimetric test and a second Valtrox colorimetric test," the court wrote in its ruling.
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liquid k2 in prisons