Officials at NYC's Department of Corrections have to step up their game after an internal investigation showed how incredibly easy it still is to sneak contraband into the jail system.
The report shows that an undercover inspector from the Department of Investigation posing as a Corrections Officer was able to smuggle two scalpel blades, 26 grams of pot, and the prescription opiate known as Suboxone into the Manhattan and Brooklyn detention center without being manually frisked even after the metal detectors went off.
At the next checkpoint, the undercover investigator set off the metal detector again, which prompted the guard to ask if he had any weapons, drugs, or sharp objects on his person. The undercover investigator answered "no" and was allowed to proceed again without being searched.
During the 2014 undercover investigation of the Department of Corrections by the DOI 26 employees were arrested for delivering and selling contraband to inmates.
The DOI report states that if the Department Of Corrections is willing to implement recommendations that include drug-sniffing dogs at staff gates, a dedicated, independent unit that is specially trained in security and screening tactics, as well as purchasing new metal detectors, surveillance cameras, and x-ray machines it will better enable correction officers to stem the flow of illegal goods.
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