6 January

There wasn’t much to celebrate for one female visitor during the recent holiday period after she was arrested for bringing contraband into Otago Corrections Facility.

“Staff stopped the woman and searched her and the vehicle she was driving during a routine checkpoint,” says Prison Manager Jack Harrison.

“In the car staff found a pouch containing a quantity of cannabis mixed in with tobacco as well as a plastic bottle that had numerous tablets inside. They also uncovered several small zip-lock bags, commonly called point bags, which had a suspected Class A drug residue in them.

“The woman was detained until Police arrived to arrest her and take possession of the confiscated drugs.”

Mr Harrison says contraband, like drugs and weapons, making their way into the hands of prisoners is extremely dangerous for other prisoners, Corrections staff and in rare cases, the public.

“The demand for drugs in prison is high and unfortunately prisoners put a lot of pressure on their friends and family to smuggle it in for them. It is our job to keep it out.

“It is unacceptable and the exact reason why we continue to be vigilant in our searches and our general screening of visitors, contractors, and staff.
 
“Every single person entering the prison goes through the same security process and we will not hesitate to take action against people naive enough to think that they will get away with it.

“We encourage anyone being pressured to help prisoners get drugs to let us know by ringing 0800 JAIL SAFE (5245 7233).

“There are a number of measures in place to stop drugs and other contraband entering prisons. This includes visitor searches, vehicle checkpoints, the use of drug detector dogs and monitoring during visits by staff and cameras.

“Prison Check Points (PCPs) are set up on the road leading into the facility, and are conducted regularly by every prison around the country. Sometimes a drug dog will give an indication of drugs in a vehicle, sometimes we find the items through good old fashioned searching.”

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