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Keeping the drugs out: Jails, prisons find a steep challenge

pain-pillsCONCORD, N.H. (AP) — As New Hampshire stares down a heroin and opioid crisis, corrections officials and lawmakers are seeking new ways to keep drugs out of jail cells as visitors and inmates continually find ways to smuggle them in.

While drugs in jails have always been an issue, officials say the present crisis is bringing new challenges and, at some facilities, a higher volume of drugs.

Recently passed legislation funds six full body scanners in the state prisons, and officials are considering bringing drug-sniffing dogs into jails and prisons as well.

Drug smuggling, particularly of suboxone, is posing problems in county jails in New Mexico and Virginia. And in 2014 California’s state prison system began using dogs and implementing airport-style hand swabs for visitors and staff after seeing an increase in drugs.

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