Roughly 85 percent of inmates who come in have abused drugs or alcohol, and about 25 percent of those are addicted, the department estimates. More than 2,630 inmates are in the state prison system. In that same time, officials filed 255 citations in Concord, 94 in Berlin and six in Goffstown for inmates possessing, distributing, manufacturing or introducing illicit drugs or alcohol into the buildings. Within the last year, prison officials wrote 18 citations to Concord inmates, 13 to Berlin inmates and six to Goffstown inmates for being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, records show. Records provided by the Department of Corrections show the drug trade is active behind the walls of all three state prisons: the men’s facilities in Berlin and Concord, and the women’s prison in Goffstown. The six machines together would cost an estimated $1.1 million and likely replace existing metal detectors in the hopes of catching drugs and other contraband hidden in people’s clothing or within their bodies. To help cut back on the contraband, the Legislature is considering a proposal to equip state prisons with full-body X-ray scanners that would screen staff, inmates and visitors. “But it’s obvious to us that some of it does get through.” “We do our best to intercept it,” said Department of Corrections Commissioner William Wrenn. Officials are constantly trying to clamp down on the presence of drugs in the state prisons, especially as New Hampshire fights an opioid epidemic that claimed more than 420 lives last year. There, a half-inch strip of the narcotic Suboxone sells for $300. Just like that, officials say, contraband enters the state prison for men in Concord. Concord - A quick kiss between an inmate and his girlfriend in the prison visiting room is all it takes to slip a small amount of illegal drugs, concealed within a deflated balloon, from one mouth to the other.
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