DRUGS, alcohol, mobile phones and cigarettes are regularly being found on Beechworth prisoners and those who come to visit them.
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Documents obtained by The Border Mail, under freedom of information laws, show cannabis, alcohol and prescription pills are regularly seized inside and outside of the minimum security jail.
And a ban on smoking nearly a year ago doesn’t appear to have quelled prisoners’ nicotine cravings, with cigarettes and related items found 67 times in the six months following the ban.
Cigarettes may be stashed on roadsides by friends or family members and picked up by inmates as they undertake community work.
During the same period from July to December 2015, marijuana or synthetic drugs were found on 10 occasions totalling about 11 grams, alcohol was found twice and nine phones found.
Since July 2012, 111 syringes have been seized from inmates and one syringe seized from a visitor.
Smart Justice Coalition spokeswoman Michelle McDonnell said Corrections Victoria acknowledged there was “an entrenched drug problem in Victorian jails".
“They have also acknowledged it’s virtually impossible to stop drug use in prisons entirely,” she said.
“So of course, from time to time, there will be reports of prisoners gaining access and using drugs in prison.”
The drugs are often found in shared areas of the Beechworth facility than on the prisoners.
Ms McDonnell said prison drug use could have additional health problems than in general society.
“They obviously find it hard to access syringes,” she said.
“Sharing syringes in prison can lead to Hepatitis C and HIV infection.
“For many prisoners, their drug problems are entrenched.
“A drug habit is incredibly difficult to break without proper, effective support.
“We know that in Victoria, people in prison don’t always get effective, timely and ongoing treatment.
“With the increased numbers of prisoners in Victoria, it puts a huge demand on the system.”
Police assist with sniffer dog operations in the jail car park in a bid to weed out visitors with drugs and are called to the centre when drugs are found inside.
If someone is found in possession of drugs in the prison, they will be processed like anyone else
- Beechworth Leading Senior Constable Steve Harris
Beechworth Leading Senior Constable Steve Harris said officers rarely found big amounts of drugs inside or outside the centre.
“We don’t find huge amounts or trafficable amounts,” he said.
“If someone is found in possession of drugs in the prison, they will be processed like anyone else.
“If the prison can’t establish who was in possession, the drugs will be given to us to destroy.”
Prison authorities also discipline inmates found with drugs and alcohol.
Inmates are often banned from having contact visits if caught with contraband and for failed urine tests.
Visitors caught with drugs, drug paraphernalia and other prohibited items outside prisons are banned from visiting all correctional facilities for a year.
Drug use is widespread among those who find themselves in trouble with the law.
Three-quarters of Victorian male prisoners report previous drug use and more than half report their offences were committed to support their use or while under the influence of drugs.
Leading Senior Constable Harris said police aimed to run sniffer dog operations with Corrections Victoria four times a year.
“If visitors show up at the prison with alcohol in their car, it's not a police offence,” he said.
"But prison staff have the authority to seize that.
"We conduct the operations on visitor days at random times.”
Police have also used an automatic number plate recognition system during the operations in a bid to find people with warrants for their arrest.
There were 6219 prisoners in the Victorian system on 30 June 2015.
Of those released in the 2012–13 financial year, 44 per cent had returned to jail within two years.
Beechworth jail has the state's third lowest recidivism rate at 14.4 per cent.
Ms McDonnell said a prisoner's drug problem would not simply go away through a lack of access to narcotics.
“They can be going through severe withdrawals while in prison,” she said.
"But if they don't have their alcohol and drug issues addressed while they're in jail, they will be released back into the community with the same problems.
"There's the increased risk they'll access drugs in the community and potentially commit drug-related offences and end up back in jail.
“It's important someone's rehabilitation needs are met, because if they're not, it increases the chance of them re-offending.
“Members of the community can then become victims of crime.
“Rehabilitation is in the community's interest.”
Wangaratta woman Kelli Simmons, whose son Joey Styles got out of prison on May 23, said there was limited access to drug treatment services behind bars.
She fears Joey returned to drugs only days after his release from a nine-month sentence.
“It's more or less just doing time,” Ms Simmons said.
“I know in the juvenile prisons they do a lot of rehabilitation and counselling, but not so much in the adult jails.
“They always seem to get drugs into the jails, they get in there somehow.”
She said her son wasn't offered any assistance when he was released from Fulham jail.
Ms Simmons believes he probably would have taken up the services if they were available.
“I think there needs to be more education services in prison, for sure,” she said.
“He got out on the 23rd with nothing, no services, nowhere to live and now he's out on the streets, couch surfing.
“When you're an addict or someone like him who needs help, you need help then and there.”
Ms Simmons hasn't spoken to her son in three weeks – he has stopped answering his phone and doesn't reply to text messages.
But she still sends him a text message each night to tell him she loves him.
"There's just no contact whatsoever,” she said.
"That's what happens when they get lost to the drug world.”
Ms Simmons said her son was hooked on ice.
While the drug is of growing concern in society, there have only been a small number of seizures of white powder at Beechworth jail in recent years.
Synthetic drugs have grown in popularity in the prison with six seizures totalling 8.75 grams from July to December last year.
The jail houses a mix of offenders who have committed serious crimes – including large scale drug trafficking and manufacturing – nearing the end of their sentences and small time criminals spending short stints behind bars.
While escapes are rare, they do occasionally happen.
Police arrested an escapee south of Euroa last weekend.
The man, who was serving time for drug use, burglary and theft, had left the correctional centre and walked and hitchhiked to Euroa before being arrested.
A spokesman for Corrections Minister Steve Herbert pointed to comments the minister made earlier this month.
A Corrections Victoria spokesman said there were tough penalties.
“Corrections Victoria takes a zero-tolerance approach to illicit drug use,” the spokesman said.
“Some prisoners and visitors go to great lengths to smuggle drugs and other contraband into prisons, so we are constantly reviewing and updating our detection methods to ensure we stay one step ahead. Prisoners are able to participate in a range of drug treatment programs, which are critical in reducing the harms associated with drug use.”