11 November
The nervous behaviour of a visitor at Hawke's Bay Regional Prison caught staff’s attention recently and lead to the discovery that she had internally concealed drugs in an attempt to supply them to a prisoner.
“Prison staff observing a visit became aware of suspicious activity between a prisoner and his visitor. The visitor’s nervous body language indicated that she might be hiding something. Staff decided to intervene to cut the visit short,” says Prison Manager George Massingham.
“Staff knew to trust their training and experience to intervene and recognised the strange behaviour of the visitor very well. Sadly this isn’t the first time staff have encountered this kind of behaviour, and people will go to uncomfortable lengths to try and get drugs into prisons.
“The visitor was removed from the visit room and informed that staff suspected that she had something concealed on her person and if that was the case she should hand it to staff.
“At that point the visitor admitted that she was concealing drugs and requested a room in order to hand them over. This was done and staff were given a condom wrapped package containing cannabis and cannabis oil.
“Police were advised and attended the prison, at which point the visitor and drugs were handed over to them, who then arrested the visitor who may face criminal charges.
“There is a high demand for drugs in prisons as many prisoners have problems with substance abuse, and they will often pressure associates, friends, and family to try and bring drugs into prisons for them.
“However there are measures in place to stop drugs and other contraband entering prisons, including: visitor searches, vehicle checkpoints, the use of drug detector dogs, and monitoring during visits by staff and cameras.
“If one of these measures does not stop an intended drug supply to a prisoner, all prisons have a series of systems and checks in place that make it almost certain that the drugs will be found. It is simply not worth the risk.
“In this instance the training and vigilance of staff was the best weapon in the fight against drugs entering prisons, and shows that even the most desperate means will not work to get drugs past staff,” says Mr. Massingham.
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