Shocking Stats On Contraband Found In Federal Prisons

Every day, correctional facilities face formidable threats from contraband such as illicit weapons, drugs, and cell phones.

The United States Sentencing Commission put together a five-year study looking at contraband to better understand which items are most popular and how they get into prisons.

Contraband was most often found in low- and medium-security Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (FBOP) facilities.

One-quarter of weapon contraband (25.9%) was found in high security facilities.

Contraband was most often found within the secure areas of the facility rather than in the visitation room or prison lobby:

• 99.5% of weapons;
• 89.3% of cell phones;
• 67.6% of drugs.

Smuggling Conduct

Weapons were almost always homemade within the prison (97.4%). Cell phones were most often smuggled in by correctional officers and other prison employees (38.6%). Drugs were most often smuggled in through visitation (38.3%) and the mail (23.3%).

Discovery Methods

Surveillance tools (e.g., video surveillance, call monitoring, and body scanners) were important tools for detecting drugs (27.6%) and cell phones (21.4%). • When surveillance was used to discover contraband, video surveillance was the most used tool for all types (51.3%). Over half (53.0%) of weapons were discovered through a physical search of the person’s body.

Criminal History

Individuals sentenced for weapon contraband had higher criminal history scores, on average, than individuals sentenced for other contraband types.

• 41.5% of individuals sentenced for weapons were assigned to the highest Criminal History Category (CHC VI).
• 23.0% of individuals sentenced for drugs had little or no prior criminal history (CHC I).

Punishment

The average sentence for individuals sentenced for prison contraband was 11 months.

• Individuals with weapons received the highest average sentence of 20 months.
• Individuals with drugs received an average of 16 months.
• Individuals with cell phones received an average of 5 months.