MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. — The presence of illegal drugs in jails is an ongoing problem that is worsening with the fentanyl crisis, according to county and federal officials.
During a news conference Wednesday about the arrest of a detention officer accused of attempting to smuggle fentanyl into jail, Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said 17 inmates died in drug-related incidents in 2022. That total represents a five-year high. Three people died in 2018.
Penzone said fentanyl is to blame for the dramatic rise in deaths.
“Quite frankly the jail system in general, and in systems across the nation, fentanyl is at historic numbers,” Penzone said.
According to a 2020 U.S. Department of Justice report, the rate of drug and alcohol-related deaths in jails has increased four-fold since 2002.
Jails across the country did not see significant increases in deaths caused by suicide and illness, though the available federal data does not yet include deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In regard to the fentanyl crisis, prison reform advocates said jails are a poor substitute for detox centers.
“If you put someone in jail, even sheriffs will tell you, these are not facilities that are designed for a health crisis,” said Wanda Bertram of Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit that researches incarceration in America.
According to one report by Policy Initiative, jails in the U.S. remain unregulated and under-resourced. One study shows most drug deaths in jails occur within the first day of incarceration.
Bertram said the focus for some suspects should be treatment, not imprisonment.
“I would hope the community takes a wider view of this problem, sees it as an extension of a broader public health issue. We have an overdose crisis in this country,” Bertram said. “It’s really hard to keep drugs out of jails and prisons and I don’t think it’s realistic to assume that jails can do that for all drugs.”
Penzone’s office is researching technology to screen employees for drugs. However, logistics is a concern.
“One of the challenges is that we can’t make it so difficult for people to get into the workplace to start their shift in the same way they would wait for a flight to take off,” Penzone said.
Screening employees is a measure Bertram welcomes.
“It certainly is a better move than what a lot of prisons and jails around the country are focusing on,” Bertram said.
However, she said inmates shouldn’t cover the cost of security technology through fees.
Penzone said he’s in talks with the county board to discuss what technology to purchase and how to pay for it.
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