* Center Square…
Fentanyl-laced mail is making its way into Illinois’ corrections system and some are demanding a change in policy to make it stop.
Scot Ward, president of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Corrections Lodge 263, said there are ongoing issues concerning safety of staff and inmates.
“There’s always a staffing issue, there’s always mental health for the offenders and the officers,” Ward told The Center Square. “There’s all kinds of things going on in the [Illinois Department of Corrections] that needs to be spoken about.”
But, Friday, in a statement Ward was critical of what he characterized as a system being watered down to appease special interest groups.
Keep in mind that Lodge 263 does not collectively bargain on behalf of corrections’ workers. AFSCME does that. The Lodge is a fraternal organization in this case.
* Ward’s full statement…
The environment in Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) facilities is becoming increasingly more dangerous for both correctional officers and offenders and there seems to be little or no movement toward improving the situation, according to the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Corrections Lodge 263.
According to Lodge 263, during the Pritzker administration the Governor’s appointee Camile Lindsay, who gives direction to IDOC, has dangerously shifted focus to an anti-law enforcement, criminal-centered environment that placates social justice advocates at the expense of accountability for criminal behavior.
“Over the last several months working conditions for IDOC officers have become increasingly more stressful and dangerous,” said Lodge 263 President Scot Ward. “There is no valid plan in place to improve the situation, and frightening tragedies will undoubtedly occur unless something is done soon.”
Illegal, synthetic drugs are entering IDOC facilities at a more rapid pace through mail sent to the offenders. These drug-soaked cards, letters and fraudulent attorney-client correspondence has led to an increase in offenders being under the influence of drugs, carrying out violent acts on staff and other offenders. In addition, IDOC officers handling the mail have been unknowingly exposed to these substances, and as a result several officers have required a dose of Narcan or an emergency room visit.
“Many correctional agencies in the United States scan the offenders’ mail and then deliver those scans to the offenders, which keeps illegal drugs from entering the prison through the mail,” Ward said. “We have suggested this solution to top IDOC officials, but to date no action has been taken to stem this postal poison flow.”
The system that holds incarcerated offenders responsible for their actions has been watered down through policy and law changes, Ward said, and the result is that offenders no longer fear repercussions if they harm or kill a fellow offender or an IDOC officer. Restrictive housing for offenses has been reduced or eliminated, fewer cases of offender violence are being sent to county state’s attorneys for prosecution, and parolees are not being sent back to prison for violating the terms of their parole.
“Offenders are no longer concerned about being punished for their violent acts, and that means they literally have nothing to lose by assaulting any human being they encounter in prison,” Ward said. “And if they are not accountable on the inside, how can you ever hope to safely return them to society once their sentences are over?”
The mental health of IDOC officers is also a major concern. Ward said that these men and women work in some of the state’s most dangerous environments and they are under the constant threat of violence, intense scrutiny, lawsuits, investigations, drug exposure, and the daily fear of walking into an environment where anything can, and often does, happen.
“What makes matters worse is that these officers are forced to work excessive amounts of overtime to deal with critical staff shortages,” Ward said. “The mental health assistance systems in place do not offer the anonymity that officers need to avoid the stigma and negative scrutiny of both offenders and their fellow officers.”
“Mental health professionals with experience in helping law enforcement officers must be made available to assist IDOC officers when needed,” Ward said. “IDOC administrators must also be open to the idea of mental health time off, assignment changes, and small acts of appreciation for officers.”
Camile Lindsey has only been in the governor’s office for a few months.
* I asked the governor’s office for a response. Here’s Jordan Abudayyeh…
The way the Fraternal Order of Police Corrections Lodge 263 views the system in which they work is problematic, but that should come as no surprise from the organization that previously sold shirts depicting its members as cage fighters and members of the incarcerated population as devils in hell.
While smuggling contraband through the mail is a challenge for corrections institutions across the country, let’s look at the facts— the Department of Corrections houses approximately 29,000 individuals and this year there have been less than 230 instances of synthetics being discovered in the mail. If every individual in custody received just one piece of mail, that comes out to less than one percent. We remain committed to ensuring that staff are safe and instances of synthetics being smuggled into facilities are treated with the utmost importance.
What seems to be the real problem for the union is that a Black woman is in a position of power and is working diligently to carry out this administration’s mission to clean up the Department of Corrections and ensure we are treating those in our custody with respect and with a focus on rehabilitation.
* Background from the governor’s office…
• The Department’s evolution to an incentive-based corrections model is an administration-wide initiative and has resulted in a reduction of violence within DOC facilities. The restrictive housing reform is in accordance with the Department of Justice’s guiding principles and ACA standards.
• The Department offers staff wellness training, which uses best-in-class curriculum as well as providing staff wellness teams that provide peer support for facility staff statewide on an as needed basis. The health and safety of staff and the individuals in custody is the Illinois Department of Correction’s top priority.
It was also noted that the shift iaway from placing individuals in restrictive housing is part of active litigation. IDOC is apparently trying to avoid a consent decree.
* Also, I’m having a hard time buying the “several officers have required a dose of Narcan or an emergency room visit,” line. The FOP swears this is true, and I don’t doubt that officers have asked for Narcan doses or visited emergency rooms. However…
* Fact Check-Overdose of fentanyl just by being in its presence is not possible, experts tell Reuters: “You cannot overdose just by touching fentanyl or another opioid and you cannot overdose just by being around it,” said Dr Ryan Marino, medical director of Toxicology & Addiction at University Hospitals, Cleveland. “It will not get into the air and cause anyone to overdose.” … Lewis S. Nelson, professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and director of the Division of Medical Toxicology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey, agreed with these comments, explaining that an overdose from fentanyl by being in its presence was “not possible”. … “All of the findings that we see on this, and other videos, are inconsistent with fentanyl poisoning and are fully consistent with a stress/anxiety response.”
* Accidental Occupational Exposure to a Large Volume of Liquid Fentanyl on a Compromised Skin Barrier with No Resultant Effect: The high prevalence of fentanyl in the illicit drug supply has generated concern among first responders regarding occupational exposure. Social media sharing of unconfirmed first responder overdoses after brief exposure to fentanyl may be contributing to an inappropriate risk perception of brief dermal fentanyl exposure. This case details a dermal exposure to a large dose of analytically confirmed pharmaceutical fentanyl (fentanyl citrate, 10 microgram fentanyl base per ml), over a large skin surface area. Additionally, the exposure occurred at a site with some skin barrier compromise, a factor that can increase fentanyl absorption. The patient underwent appropriate decontamination and underwent a brief medical assessment with no clinical effects of opioid exposure observed.
* Cops say touching fentanyl is making them sick. Doctors say it’s impossible: Pharmaceutical fentanyl is used in hospitals — often in the form of a patch — for patients with extreme pain. But even then, said Dr. Ryan Marino, an emergency medicine physician and toxicologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who uses #WTFentanyl to bust myths surrounding the drug, it’s not easily absorbed . “Fentanyl patches require putting fentanyl into special liquid vehicles so it can be absorbed through skin, and then sealing them against the skin for 72 hours at a time,” Marino said. “The patches took decades and millions of dollars to develop and are still incredibly slow and inefficient.”
* Jail Time For An “Imaginary Crime”: It’s Almost Impossible To Overdose Just By Touching Fentanyl, But People Are Being Locked Up For It Anyway: Despite this, people who use the drug are facing serious legal repercussions — such as charges of assault or endangerment of officers — for supposedly causing these impossible overdoses.
…Adding… FOP Lodge 263 response…
The Pritzker administration, once again, has decided to try and divert attention from a serious and deadly issue instead of taking care of the problem. They are playing the race card while putting lives at risk by their inaction.
The men and women who staff our prisons, many of them people of color, are facing more dangerous situations every day. As recently as Sunday, at the Western Illinois Correctional Center, an 18-page drug-soaked book caused several offenders to need medical attention and posed an extreme risk to staff.
So while the Pritzker administration plays the race card, they ignore the incompetence and inaction of the person who should be their advocate for change and safety in our prisons.
Color doesn’t matter, competence does. The 50 percent of our executive board and the large percentage of our membership who are people of color join all of their brothers and sisters in Lodge 263 in just wanting to go home safely to their families each night.
- vern - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 9:21 am:
I’m glad you immediately jumped on the fentanyl contact claim. This has been a problem all over the country. Fentanyl contact overdoses are scientifically impossible Law enforcement officers and gullible local news stations are feeding a cycle of panic attacks and misinformation that then leads to more panic attacks.
DOC and the governor’s office should urgently investigate how many COs believe the fentanyl contact myth and institute whatever training necessary to nip this in the bud. We can’t have a prison system where the employees think a goblin or dragon might be hiding in every envelope.
- charles in charge - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 9:23 am:
Thank you for writing about the dangerous misinformation being peddled by law enforcement about “fentanyl exposure.” I have actually heard legislators repeat these bunk claims.
- Thomas Paine - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 9:26 am:
It is more likely that correctional officers are using fentanyl and claiming it is from handling the mail when they test positive or OD.
I also want to know more about these claims, Rich, and would encourage the lodge to put these alleged victims on the record.
Also, it just seems to make basic sense to me that anyone handling the mail should be wearing gloves.
- Arsenal - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 9:30 am:
The guards’ worries about touching cooties are obviously silly.
But that being said, I wouldn’t really object to a few more controls being placed on the mail.
And also, making mental health services more available to guards seems like entirely a good thing. Just let’s not expect all that many guards to really avail themselves of it.
- Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 9:33 am:
Have people always been this stupid?
- Give Us Barabbas - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 9:34 am:
The FOP doesn’t want to have folks thinking about how most DOC contraband comes in… Thru staff. I feel no penalty is too high for those that bring in the contraband and put their fellow CO’s and inmates in their care, in danger.
- TheInvisibleMan - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 9:41 am:
We all watched how law enforcement organizations spread nonsense and misinformation about cannabis right up until it was legalized.
I’m sure they aren’t lying about anything this time.
–claiming it is from handling the mail when they test positive–
Bingo. “I must have failed my drug test because of the poppy seeds on my bagel”.
- Who else - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 9:45 am:
What utter nonsense.
- XonXoff - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 9:52 am:
// We all watched how law enforcement organizations spread nonsense and misinformation about cannabis right up until it was legalized. //
Yes.
- CCrider - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 9:53 am:
Fentanyl kills, Stop.
Last two years 100-k dead year over year. Stop.
Number 1 cause of death 18-40 year old’s. Stop
Cartels’ now targeting school children. Stop.
Perhaps the Governors office should push back on that narrative, rather continue to disparage Law enforcement?
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 9:56 am:
===push back on that narrative, rather continue to disparage Law enforcement===
To be clear, the Fentanyl part was mine and mine only. Try taking a reading comprehension class.
- TheInvisibleMan - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 10:01 am:
–Fentanyl kills, Stop.–
Addiction kills, stop.
Addiction is a mental health issue, stop.
The method it kills by is variable, but addiction is the underlying cause.
I find it very telling that the police are more concerned about their own mental health, than the people in prison for an addiction and mental health problems that our society is primarily using law enforcement to address.
Law enforcement agencies will never be the source of the solution to addiction, stop.
- vern - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 10:09 am:
=== Fentanyl kills, Stop. ===
Fentanyl does kill, but stopping at that level of analysis doesn’t help anybody. Lots of things can kill, and understanding how they do and don’t is useful for everyone. For example, “cars kill. Stop.” wouldn’t be a useful contribution if the police believed that any skin contact with a motor vehicle was deadly. We want police to know the difference between a car crash and touching a stationary car. Same with fentanyl.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 10:40 am:
@- TheInvisibleMan - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 10:01 am:
===–Fentanyl kills, Stop.–
Law enforcement agencies will never be the source of the solution to addiction, stop.===
Border patrol could help by reducing the amount of fentanyl being brought in over the southern border. They lack resources to do an effective job. The smugglers know how to send large groups of people including unaccompanied minors across the border at point A. While the border patrol is busy changing diapers and feeding unaccompanied children at point A, the smugglers cross in with fentanyl at point B, usually getting away because the border patrol at point B has been sent over to help at point A.
Border enforcement is an enforcement agency. Stop.
- DuPage - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 10:42 am:
10:40 was me.
- Last Bull Moose - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 10:51 am:
Thanks for the information. Fentanyl is not quite as scary as I thought.
Corrections officer is one of those positions that people may only be able to do for a short time. I don’t know how one deals with inmates from a position of power for years and not end up warped yourself.
- Roadrager - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 11:45 am:
==Have people always been this stupid?==
I think so, but never before have so many stupid people had so many opportunities to be loudly stupid, and encourage others to be stupid along with them.
- prairiepolice - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 11:49 am:
So the 07 03 2021 of a San Diego County CA deputy collapsing from an exposure of Fentanyl is a fake? it is from his body cam. So that is a fake too?
That took all of 3 seconds to find that one. There are others
- Crispy - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 11:57 am:
@Michelle Flaherty and @ Roadrager: I don’t think the percentages have changed, but the absolute numbers may be larger due to population growth, lol.
- DuPage Moderate - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 12:06 pm:
When will the governor’s office get called out for making everything about race?
- Bad Habits - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 12:22 pm:
Have it say it sickens me that our Governor sent his spokesperson out to say that our union is against black women in power. Wow.
On a side note, Ms. Lindsey was the Chief of Staff for DOC for the last few years.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 12:26 pm:
===our union===
Your union is AFSCME. Your voluntary club is the FOP.
- vern - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 12:34 pm:
===our union===
If you’re an honest-to-god corrections officer I have a genuine question for you: do you believe fentanyl can cause overdoses via external skin contact?
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 12:39 pm:
===is a fake? ===
No. It’s hysteria.
- Honeybear - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 12:50 pm:
Rich is on it.
This is a play by FOP to snipe Correctional Officers from AFSCME by manufacturing a fake crisis.
FOP is putting in so much time on this project.
It seems like it’s now their highest priority since the fall of their political candidates.
I point to this behavior as being evidence of
Not being a union
Unions don’t snipe other unions members.
Unions don’t intentionally cause disunity in other unions to pick off bargaining units.
How about calling them “not a union” too OW?
- charles in charge - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 12:52 pm:
==So the 07 03 2021 of a San Diego County CA deputy collapsing from an exposure of Fentanyl is a fake? it is from his body cam. So that is a fake too?==
“Fake,” as in deliberately staged? Maybe, maybe not. Real fentanyl overdoses? Definitely not.
- Leap Day William - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 1:23 pm:
== So the 07 03 2021 of a San Diego County CA deputy collapsing from an exposure of Fentanyl is a fake? it is from his body cam. So that is a fake too? ==
Yes and no. Did he touch some Fentanyl and collapse? Yes. Was the Fentanyl exposure the cause? No. It was hysteria over a completely wrong belief that any exposure to Fentanyl in the manner the deputy had is fatal.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-08/im-not-going-to-let-you-die-deputy-overdoses-after-coming-in-contact-with-fentanyl
That took all of five seconds to find, another minute to read. Hysteria is a powerful force.
- Nick - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 2:08 pm:
It sort of speaks to how much deference the police get that something which is literally medically implausible, overdosing from fentanyl from simple skin contact, has been repeated so much by the media with little pushback.
Good on Rich for doing otherwise, wish more would do so.
- Bad Habits - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 2:10 pm:
@vern
Up until today I did. That’s what I was told. I don’t deal with mail so I wasn’t overly concerned. I will definitely do some research tonight though.
- Bad Habits - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 2:10 pm:
@vern
Up until today I did. That’s what I was told. I don’t deal with mail so I wasn’t overly concerned. I will definitely do some research tonight though.
- MisterJayEm - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 3:02 pm:
“Fentanyl kills”
So do cars — but I’m neither hysterical nor foolish enough to believe that merely touching one will send me to the hospital.
– MrJM
- vern - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 3:08 pm:
=== Up until today I did. ===
Thank you for your honesty and for being open to new information on this. I hope you’ll be able to set some of your coworkers’ minds at ease about this going forward.
And, of course, thank you for the work you do.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 3:54 pm:
=== When will the governor’s office get called out for making everything about race?===
The Governor’s office is doing the right thing, calling out racism where it exists.
It’s funny how if it’s pointed out, racism, the racist thinkers look for that “whatabout” to allow racist thinking to be accepted.
It’s not like you says the Governor’s office is wrong in the assessment
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 3:55 pm:
===making everything about race?===
lol
Everything? Man, a comment like that says quite a bit.
- Magic Dragon - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 4:24 pm:
Scot Ward spreading misinformation? Some things never change…
- What - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 5:19 pm:
Someone enlighten me. Where in the FOP’s article does it refer or mention or imply race/racism? Thanks Rich for pointing out the fetanyl, that’s good journalism…I don’t necessarily think the FOP is lying about staff going to the hospital but should be more transparency…on both sides.
- Big Dipper - Thursday, Sep 8, 22 @ 6:29 pm:
The same junk science that fans some in law enforcement’s irrational fear of touching Fentanyl similarly fans their irrational fear of Covid vaccines. Maybe there should be a remedial science course as part of their training.
- The Dude - Friday, Sep 9, 22 @ 5:12 am:
Why do unions do this. If they have a safety issue simply file a complaint with the States OSHA who has federal oversite and doesn’t care at all about state politics.
I’ve never understood why unions run to media and claim its not safe yet you never hear of an official investigation.
That makes me think it’s all politics and zero safety.