S.C. prison workers hit with surprise random searches

COLUMBIA, S.C. - At prisons across South Carolina, employees reported to work and had to go through random searches from law enforcement and K9s – all in an effort to cut down on employees smuggling in contraband for inmates.

With three South Carolina state prisons in the CSRA – in Trenton, McCormick and Allendale – that’s big news.

The surprise search Wednesday was part of an effort that South Carolina Department of Corrections Director Bryan Stirling calls a “zero tolerance campaign.”

Stirling said the goal of this campaign is to keep contraband out of prisons and stop what he calls “dirty staff.”

ACROSS THE RIVER:

• Smuggling contraband into prisons is a big problem in Georgia, too. Just this week, an Augusta State Medical Prison guard was caught bringing in contraband, apparently meant for an inmate. And at the county level, 33 Richmond County jail officers have been arrested in three years, many of them for smuggling in contraband.

“We’re sending a message to our staff that we’re going to make sure that when you come to work at the department of corrections, you’re clean and you don’t have any contraband on you,” Stirling said. “And if you do, we’re going to catch you and charge you with a crime.”

Stirling said in addition to SCDC and the South Carolina Office of Inspector General, about 20 agencies across the state assisted Wednesday night’s effort.

At Broad River Correctional Institution, there were officers from the Columbia Police Department, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, and the Forest Acres Police Department.

Authorities made all employees stop on their way to work, so K9′s could sniff their cars.

If a K9 alerted that it smelled drugs, law enforcement searched the employee’s car. The employee was also drug tested.

No employees were arrested or charged at Broad River Correctional Institution, but multiple employees were drug tested, according to SCDC.

“You have a lot of folks who come to prison, I think it’s 30 or 40 percent, who have addiction issues. If people show up with drugs and things of that nature, it doesn’t help the rehabilitation process,” Stirling said.

The department led a similar search Monday night, covering state prisons in the eastern half of the state.

Stirling said one employee was charged with drug possession Monday. He said 13 employees were drug tested, but those tests came back negative.

This is one of many ways the department is working to keep contraband out of prisons.

“It makes it very dangerous. It empowers the gangs. It gives them the ability to make money while they’re inside,” Stirling said Wednesday night.

S.C. CRIME COVERAGE FROM NEWS 12:

• Second S.C. State football player arrested over gun on campus
• Housekeeper accused of stealing from patient at Edgefield care home
• 17-year-old arrested in N. Augusta apartment parking lot shoot-out

In September, investigators with the South Carolina Office of Inspector General led a raid at Lee Correctional Institution and arrested two employees.

At Lee Correctional Institution, SCDC has implemented technology to identify and shut down contraband cell phones inside the prison.

During an interview in September, Stirling said in one month, the department disabled about 620 phones. He said there are about 1,200 inmates inside Lee Correctional Institution.

On Wednesday night, he said that number went up to 800 phones the department has disabled.

Stirling hopes to put this technology in every state prison.

In October, Stirling told a of lawmakers he plans to ask the General Assembly for millions of dollars in next year’s budget to do that.

In addition to that technology, Stirling said the department has also installed nets to keep people from throwing contraband into prisons.

He said they also have drone teams, to stop outside drones from dropping contraband.

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