Please subscribe to keep reading. To combat the flood of drugs, many state prisons have taken steps like banning physical mail and used book donations, which they claim are a major source of contraband. These test kitsplastic baggies with small glass vials insideuse basic chemical reactions to produce colors indicating the presence of various compounds. But police across Texas have continued to report continuing issues with K2 overdoses, including among homeless people. It was encouraging to see the coverage given to it by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Several companies make similar kits, but they all rely on the same underlying chemical reactions. A small piece of rosemary turned NIK Test A a light yellow-brown color, which could pass as a presumptive positive result if one really wanted it to. K2 spice spray is also called k2 spice spray on paper. "It took a bunch of us to take him down. Crime:kidnapping, raping and murdering Heather Guerrero, a 15-year-old Gering newspaper carrier, in 2003. The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, a union of state correctional workers, told local news outlets that DOCCS found there were false-positive results with the testing kits being used to identify contraband drugs. Best Spice Paper Worldwide. All rights reserved. Even the test manufacturer warns the results should be backed up by further evidence. Harris says the over-the-counter cold medicine Benadryl can produce positive results in field tests for several types of illicit drugs. If the clear liquid turns orange, then brown, the substancemightbe methamphetamines or amphetamines. With the right tools and strategies, correctional leaders can protect their employees and catch contraband smugglers without radical policy changes that can trigger expensive lawsuits. He also lost 41 days of good time credits and had visitations suspended for nearly six months. Crime:The 2002 Norfolk bank robbery; he shot and killed Lola Elwood, a bank employee. Inmates have written to the Post-Gazette, saying they dont like seeing their neighbor passed out from the drugs they buy in the prison yard. This may be called Tools or use an icon like the cog. As early as 1978, the U.S. Department of Justice published standards for using drug field tests that advised the tests "should not be used for evidential purposes.". In 2016, an Arkansas couple spent two months in jail after a sandwich bag of baking soda in their truck tested "positive" for cocaine. Inmates then smoke or ingest pieces of the soaked paper, or sell it to other inmates. The kits are screening tests that help the user determine what a substancemightbe. The evidence against Steffey is a string of suspicious emails and two field tests, which you can buy off the internet for about $2 apiece, that came back "presumptive positive" for amphetamines. 'Inmates are very creative in here': Paper laced with K2 being mailed Writing for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rich Lord described the K2 problem at the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution Huntingdon. Another guy thought he was God and that the end of the world was coming, slobbering and acting like a five year old. These are the best-hidden drugs these days because cops have a much harder time catching them.. A prisoner said after the 9:30 pm count, the bathrooms and shower stalls fill up with prisoners smoking some version of K2 or Spice. Getting another inmate's paperwork in the mail isn't allowed, but legal mail from an attorney is supposed to be privileged. If synthetic marijuana is popular in your region, help spread the word of the dangers and misconceptions about this drug. "His eyes was as big as my fist," said one veteran correctional officer, who quickly summoned backup to the cellblock disturbance. This paper is odorless and colorless. to know more about Smiths Detection? This is not an error. The misconduct could stymie his bid for boot camp and early parole. Liquid K2 is the latest contraband problem for Nebraska prisons, jails Paul Hammel Jun 27, 2021 Updated Aug 1, 2022 0 paul.hammel@owh.com, 402-618-0009, twitter.com/paulhammelowh 0 Comments. "That's not going to give you a reliable result.". K2 Spice Paper - Best at Low Price - Drug Infused Papers Lance Lowry, president of a Huntsville union that represents correctional officers, recalled one shift a few years ago when he was working in an Huntsville-area prison. The disadvantage is that, as simple as the tests are, they're far from immune to user error. A 2018 drug seizure in North Carolina originally touted as "$2 million worth of 'the deadly opioid fentanyl'" turned out to be white sugar. Efforts to thwart smuggling range from prohibiting book deliveries to a postcard-only policy to providing scans or copies to inmates rather than the originals. Various types of paper seemed to have little effect on NIK Test A, though the solution turned the paper brown. A police officer or prison guard who comes across a suspicious substance could use Safariland's NIK Test A, a general screening test that can turn a variety of colors, to see what the substance might be. K2 has been linked to several assaults, as well as overdoses in Nebraska prisons and jails and even some deaths in other states. But it seems the methods used to uncover K2 use need to be more accurate, as the negative consequences to inmates for false positives are so serious. Privacy Policy | And the judge ruled that because the deputies reasonably believed the tests they used were reliable, they had both sovereign and qualified immunity from Fincher's lawsuit. And prisoners are allegedly being given solitary confinement or losing visitation privileges as a result. A common smuggling route is to hide the strips under postage stamps, stickers or tape. Even if there was a flood of K2 coming into the DOC, these tests wouldnt detect it, she added. In recent months, prison investigators said they have conducted searches and busts on visitation days at several prisons as well as by searching prison employees' vehicles in random parking lot sweeps. Scott Frakes, director of the Nebraska Department of Corrections, said the scourge of liquid K2 is a nationwide problem. Lower federal courts, building onHill's precedent, have held that a single positive drug test is sufficient to support disciplinary action; that those tests do not have to have a 100 percent confidence factor; and that inmates have no due process right to have those tests verified by an outside lab. K2 is a mix of chemicals that, when applied to a substance like tobacco, potpourri or paper, becomes a . "That's how [these tests] were integrated into forensic science in the first place, to be followed up with confirmatory tests," Harris says. As part of the review, DOCCS is working with the Office of the Inspector General, and cannot comment further at this time.". Do Not Sell My Personal Information, If you need further help setting your homepage, check your browsers Help menu, Ill. CO charged in fatal nightclub shooting, Former S.C. CO's sworn statement leads to 16-year early release of convicted murderer, 4 Miss. Colors are subjective. 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. "It would have been a night-and-day difference," even coming from a low-security prison, Steffey says. The officer threw him in the Special Housing Unit (SHU)a sanitized term for solitary confinementfor five months, where he was held in a cell for at least 23 hours a day. The BOP did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Coffee grounds also turned the solution in NIK Test A a dark brown, although it was unclear whether that was the result of a chemical reaction or just the color of the grounds themselves. Phone: 402-473-9584. K2 begins as a liquid that can be sprayed on any kind of paper product, like letters. A Florida man was wrongfully jailed in 2017 after a field test confused his donut glaze with meth. ", After spending two years going through the Bureau of Prisons' grievance process and appealing his disciplinary sanctions, fruitlessly, Blaisure filed a petition in federal court in July 2016 seeking to restore his lost good time credits. He insists it had nothing to do with drugs. The BOP disciplinary hearing officer submitted a sworn affidavit that he was unaware of the test. 'K2 is the new drug of choice' in Texas prisons, official says "They have seizures; get super high. In 2011, a United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture concluded that solitary confinement beyond 15 days constituted cruel and inhumane punishment. 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. It's not easy being in prison, and having a little something like Liquid K2 in prisons can surely make it a little easy for them Liquid K2 spray at the largest drug store in USA & Canada Liquid K2 spray has an unlimited number of ways to be used. Investigators suggested Hernandez killed Odin Lloyd because he didnt want information about his bisexuality to become public knowledge. Such is the majesty of the law that a U.S. District Court judge dismissed his suit, ruling that he had suffered no deprivation of due process or cruel or unusual punishment. Its crazy here.. Unlike in the federal prison system, Massachusetts prisons send all field tests to outside labs for confirmation. Aaron Hernandezs tragic death spotlighted a serious problem with synthetic marijuana in prisons. Once, prison screeners found K2 concealed in a baby's diapers on a visitation day. User Voice said the use and popularity of Spice contributed to an increase of violence, bullying, mental and physical ill health concerns, and even death within British prisons. Marijuana Policy Has Run Ahead of Science, Waiting Before Pennsylvania Goes Full Colorado. Add to cart. ", This is why Sirchie's webpage for the NARK II test specifically warns, "NOTE: ALL TEST RESULTS MUST BE CONFIRMED BY AN APPROVED ANALYTICAL LABORATORY! Enter https://www.corrections1.com/ and click OK. The Federal Bureau of Prisons said in an email statement that they "began seeing attempted drug introductions via liquid narcotics, by soaking paper, approximately in 2010, [which] coincides with the introduction of synthetic drugs in our communities.". But liquid K2 sprayed on paper or fiber presents new challenges. One officer they believe was exposed had a fierce burning sensation in his head, which felt like his head was covered with nits, and [he] spent the night tearing at the top of his head. One former inmate said hes seen men go berserk, turning on their best friends. The Omaha Police Department and 16 other law enforcement agencies in Nebraska didn't fully report domestic violence statistics from 2014 through 2019. He isn't saying that NIK tests are producing false positivesthat is, incorrectly indicating the presence of drugs. Best Spice Paper Worldwide. If in doubt, read My Comments Policy. All rights reserved. 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. You can buy the infused A4 plain paper and write a letter to send to your buddy in prison. "The whole time they had had a negative result from the lab saying that what I possessed was plant matter, period," Blaisure says. Suboxone can still be abused, though. I refuse to believe that every defense attorney in Massachusetts is suddenly a drug dealer.. 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. On the street, the same liquid in many areas sells for $100 or more an ounce, officials said. Tom Wolf halted all mail delivery and. Whenever we close a pathway, they find a new one.. | The results of this test are merely presumptive. Liquid K2. Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Accessibility | Its cost on the street: about $20 an ounce. Getting high and drug use remains a key problem throughout correctional institutions, said Frunzi. Suboxone, which requires a doctors prescription, comes in a small strip that goes under the tongue and slowly dissolves. As a result of the infraction, Blaisure spent 30 days in the SHU. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Possession of illicit drugs like heroin or marijuana or a positive urine test for those substances is a series 100 offense, the most serious incident report. This paper is odorless and colorless. Your shot is staying the way it is. Skip to content. It's a big epidemic in prison.". It's not easy being in prison, and having a little something like Liquid K2 in prisons can surely make it a little easy for them Liquid K2 spray at the largest drug store in USA & Canada Whatever the approach, mail inspection and delivery is very time-consuming and potentially dangerous. And this is the rub of Steffey's argument in his lawsuit. Similarly, Green was confined to a cell, given a disciplinary ticket, and threatened with fees over more conclusive lab testingwhich later showed there weren't any drugs in his mail. Why Easter cards were rejected in Indiana prisons this year Don't come and ask us about it anymore. 4.28.2023 4:45 PM, Matt Welch Outside of prison, those accused of drug possession based on a field test at least have some recourse to the criminal court system, where the high standards of evidence require presumptive positive field tests to be confirmed by crime labs. Steffey says he got on the bad side of a couple of correctional officers, who began regularly searching his cell and generally making his life difficult. Yet the federal Bureau of Prisons relies solely on such tests to put inmates in solitary confinement, take away good behavior credits that count toward early release, and strip them of visitation rights. Select the option or tab named Internet Options (Internet Explorer), Options (Firefox), Preferences (Safari) or Settings (Chrome). He told me he never rapped in his life, but that was all he could do to not lose his mind. State poison control centers in Texas and other states soon reported a spike in overdoses, serious illnesses and deaths from K2 and related substances. Douglas County immediately shreds the original, Meyers said, to comply with confidentiality requirements for attorney-client correspondence. Blazing Blueberry 5ml And the drug itself is more problematic, often causing erratic and dangerous behavior. Prison has a strictly enforced social order, and sex criminals, especially those whose crimes involve children, are at the very bottom of itshunned at best. See other articles on new psychoactive substances (NPS) on this website such as: Not Meant for Human Consumption.. When an inmates belongings test positive for K2, he typically gets 90 days in restricted housing, meaning he spends 23 hours a day locked in a Spartan cell. The incident meant Steffey also lost any shot of going to a minimum-security camp. 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. "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. After he exhausted his appeals within the BOP bureaucracyall deniedSteffey filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal court in January 2019. It ruled that the single field test afforded to many incarcerated people is "all the process due them under the Constitution and interpreting case law.". The smugglers also set up Amazon vendor accounts to ship reading materials laced with the drug to inmates. He said his agency always works to educate inmates and give them better alternatives, such as social activities, to seeking out K2. While the eternal spiritual state of his soul cant be known with any certainty, what is known for sure is there was K2, a form of synthetic marijuana, in him when he died. As synthetic drugs flood into Mass. prisons, officers struggle - WCVB

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