Drug inquiry leads to prison system's officers; 3 arrested

ASSOCIATED PRESS

January 10, 1999

SACRAMENTO -- Marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin flowed steadily through three state prisons. And when investigators followed the trail to the drug kingpins, it led to three of the prison system's own officers.

Ironwood State Prison officer Richard Melendez, 28, was arrested late last month after investigators swept through the Riverside County lockup searching for drugs.

More arrests may follow, Department of Corrections officials say.

While most drugs are traced to friends and relatives of inmates, the larger quantities are almost always smuggled in by prison employees -- including sworn officers, investigators said.

Melendez's arrest followed those of prison officers suspected of smuggling drugs into California State Prison in Sacramento, known as New Folsom, and San Quentin.

"We're trying to send a message," said Dave Mansfield, an agent with the Office of Internal Affairs, created last summer after accusations of officer abuse at Corcoran State Prison.

Investigators say prison employees usually have inmate contacts who run their own distribution networks inside.

A gram of heroin can fetch $1,000 in prison, said parolee Robert Johnson, who said prison workers brought him drugs at least 18 times over his 18 years in the corrections system.

"I used to walk through the institution with $1,000 in my pocket or in my mattress," he told the Sacramento Bee in an article published yesterday. "I would go to the visiting room and slip it out, or have a guard take it out. That was my job."

At New Folsom, veteran officer Michael Laurin, 54, was arrested in May after buying a pound of marijuana from inmates' relatives working undercover, authorities said. His trial is pending.

And at San Quentin, officer April Reynolds was caught bringing heroin into the prison with intent to sell, authorities said. A parolee who was with her also was taken into custody.

Along with a cook, Sherwood Coleman, accused of buying cocaine with the intention of selling it at the prison, they were indicted by a grand jury in Contra Costa County.