Tougher penalties proposed to curb ‘staggering rates’ of contraband smuggled into state’s prisons

Many of the techniques used to smuggle drugs into jails and prisons can endanger corrections officers and other prison staff, and it’s occurring at “staggering rates.”

So said Rep. Elliott Engen (R-White Bear Township) who sponsors HF327 to intensify anti-drug efforts and increase penalties for smugglers.

The House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee amended the bill Tuesday before laying it over for later action.

Engen said an especially dangerous method to get contraband behind bars is for drug-soaked paper to be mailed to inmates.

Prison workers have been hospitalized on several occasions due to exposure to unknown, probably synthetic, drugs. He said a Stillwater prison staffer “woke up in a hospital bed, because she was exposed to something. And to this day, she doesn’t know what.”

Anoka County Sheriff Brad Wise said current penalties do not provide enough deterrence. “When contraband makes its way into a facility, it can fuel violence, disrupt operations, endanger staff and facilitate criminal activity within the jail.”

The bill would increase the penalty for introducing contraband into a prison or for selling contraband in a prison from a gross misdemeanor to a felony.

The current gross misdemeanor penalty for possessing contraband in a prison would remain, but if an inmate sold the contraband inside the prison, that would be a felony.

Contraband is defined as any of the controlled substances listed in state law or any intoxicating or alcoholic liquor or malt beverage.