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How sheriff's deputies keep drugs out of Maine's jails

Sheriffs Joyce and Morton said inmates are getting more creative with smuggling, proving how severe people's addiction has become.

PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office completed a contraband sweep Friday morning in an effort to remove drugs and other contraband that have slipped through the cracks and into the jail.

"They need it. They crave it, and they will do anything they can to get it through," said Sheriff Kevin Joyce.

Joyce and Penobscot County Sheriff Troy Morton said alleged offenders will swallow drugs and wait for them to pass through their bodies before taking them. They also will insert the drugs into other body cavities to smuggle them behind bars.

Joyce and Morton said inmates are getting more creative with smuggling, proving how severe people's addiction has become.

"It shows you how bad the addiction world is," said Sheriff Morton. "People will go to any length to get these drugs in."

Sweeps are common practice, but Sheriff Joyce said they can only afford to do them once every three months. Officers, including K9s, from Sagadahoc County, the Maine State Police, and the Department of Corrections helped with the shakedown.

"We also feel like this is a report card on how well we're doing," said Joyce.

In Cumberland County and Somerset County, the jails have a drug scanner, a standing X-Ray machine that can detect foreign objects on, or inside, a person.

"It's not a panacea. It's just another tool the staff can use to try to keep the drugs out," said Joyce.

Sheriff Morton said he is interested in the machine in Penobscot County, but is able to bring inmates to the Somerset County for screening.

Both Morton and Joyce said more than 75 percent of their inmates are in their jails on drug-related offenses. Not all offenses include possession or trafficking. Some are behind bars for theft or forgery to get money for their drug habits.

"The reality is, the only drug rehabilitation program we have is keeping them away from drugs," said Joyce.

While some jails have Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, they do not provide drug rehabilitation treatment. However, jails can act as a detox facility.

"The reality is, the only drug rehabilitation program we have is keeping them away from drugs," said Joyce.

"By default, jails become these places for people to detox," said Sheriff Morton. "It gets me really upset when someone sneaks drugs into the jail because it could be setting someone backwards who is in recovery."

Morton said the potential for a previous drug user to overdose is higher than that of a first-time user.

Joyce said many of his inmates are worried to leave jail after detoxing because they worry about going back to drug use, and they know other deadly drugs like fentanyl could be in the next batch of heroin.

"When somebody feels like they are safer in jail because they can't get to the drug, then there's a problem," said Joyce.

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