A Maricopa County prison officer was arrested Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of trying to smuggle fentanyl and methamphetamine into Lower Buckeye Jail.
At a press conference in Phoenix, Sheriff Paul Penzon said lawmakers had arrested 26-year-old Andrés Salazar after he placed him on leave. According to Penzone, Salazar worked with inmates to get about 100 fentanyl tablets into prison.
Salazar was charged with drug possession, prison smuggling and facilitating transportation for sale.
Penzone said evidence gathered by investigators suggested Salazar’s first attempt to smuggle drugs into the prison, and that deputies intercepted him in the prison parking lot.
Penzone condemned Salazar’s actions, stating that Salazar would have damaged the reputation of his former colleagues and endangered the lives of those imprisoned by the distribution.
“I’m sick of it,” said Penzone. It will be done.”
Penzone said the investigation lasted more than four weeks, but agents were waiting for Salazar’s arrest until additional evidence was gathered. Penzone said someone paid Salazar her $1,000 to bring the drugs into prison, and investigators continued to look for others who may have been involved.
Penzone said Salazar was found to have falsified overtime slips for shifts he didn’t work.
Jared Keenan, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona, said it was unfortunately not surprising to learn of the arrest.
“This case is a perfect example of how most of the drugs brought into prison were brought in by prison officials and other staff,” Keenan said. One of the things was that when prisons and prison visits were completely stopped, drugs were still prevalent.”
Keenan said the focus should continue on staff, but was concerned that measures taken to combat illegal drugs in prison could be even tougher on those incarcerated and their families. He said that
Keenan said reports of prison overdose-related deaths, while tragic, were the result of what he called the country’s failed war on drugs.
“We can’t lock up drug use or how to get out of a substance abuse disorder,” Keenan said.
Penzone plans to add body scanners to prisons
At a press conference, Penzone shared his plans to add body scanners to the Maricopa County Jail. Penzone has included millimeter-wave scanners, which are commonly used at airports, as an example the division might use.
Penzone acknowledged that such a move would be controversial and could provoke resistance from employees who feel that agency leadership no longer trusts them.
“Many employees will feel that this is a trust issue. I question whether they can be trusted,” Penzone said. “Not at all, but we live in a society where humans are flawed and failing, and we see good people doing bad things and seeing bad things happen. If we want to be a safe prison system with no prisons, we need to do whatever we can to get our employees used to the idea that they need to be checked upon joining the company, just like everyone else. It means demand.”
Penzone acknowledges that the strategy remains in the planning stages, and he and others are working to determine the type of scanner that will be most effective in identifying contraband with the least disruption to operations. We are considering. Penzone said authorities would need to hire additional staff to operate the scanners and suggested corrections officers could stagger shifts to avoid long lines of people waiting to be scanned. .
The MCSO is considering scanners priced between $150,000 and $250,000 and is still working out how many of the five prisons it will need, according to the sheriff. Penzone said the money would come from the agency’s detention fund, but has spoken with county officials about the possibility of receiving additional funding.
Exactly how long it would take Penzone to install scanners in county jails remained unclear, but the sheriff was adamant that such a future would be “when,” not “if.” Did.
“If I get any objections, it is unforeseen, except for the Lord more than preventing me from being able to do this. I will implement this device and this process as soon as possible.” I am doing my best to
Deaths in Arizona Prisons and Prisons
At least two incarcerated men died in the last 24 hours. One was in the Pima County prison and his other in the Florence prison.
On December 16, Robert Tsalabounis, 38, was found unresponsive in his cell and was later pronounced dead. No signs of trauma or suspicious circumstances were found by detectives visiting the prison, according to the sheriff’s office. His cause of death was under investigation.
In November, a family filed a lawsuit against Pima County and other authorities after 18-year-old Sylvestre Inzunza died in a Pima County adult detention center after overdosing on fentanyl twice in the same week.
The Pima County Adult Detention Center was sorely understaffed that security and medical staff were unable to check on Indunza for hours, according to the complaint, even though he was in a pod designated for detox inmates. environment was created.
Statewide, the Arizona Republic has found someone dying under arrest or in a county jail at least once a month as of 2020. At least 64 people died in county jails or during arrests between January 1, 2017 and August 4, 2020. This means that on average he happens every 21 days, based on The Republic’s data.
