By Charles Wilson
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — When a prison inmate sharpens a piece of metal or plastic into a handmade knife, he may not realize traces of his identity are left behind every time it’s handled.
Beginning next week, prison officials in Indiana will begin using a new system that tests trace amounts of DNA left on “shanks,” cell phones and other contraband used by inmates. The “touch DNA” technology tests DNA contained in skin cells left behind where someone has touched something.
Officials from the state Department of Correction and Indianapolis-based contractor Forensic ID demonstrated the system Tuesday at the Indianapolis Re-Entry Educational Facility.
“We’re trying to make it a safer place - not just for correctional officers, but for inmates as well,” said Vincent Perez, a former police officer who developed the touch DNA sampling kit and serves as senior vice president for Forensic ID.
The DOC says 111 inmate-on-inmate assaults involving serious injury were reported last year, as well as 54 serious inmate-on- staff assaults.
Nearly 1,000 illegal weapons were seized.
The demonstration took place beside a table loaded with more than 60 knives, guns and other weapons often crafted from screwdrivers, metal ladles, mop wringers, sharpened plastic and other materials - all found in one month at the maximum-security state prison in Pendleton.
At that same prison in January, an inmate was charged with murdering another prisoner with a handmade shank.
Guards often find contraband hidden in common areas with no sign of who might have left it there, officials said.
But using the kit, a guard can swab the weapon and seal the sample into an evidence envelope then sent to the Indiana State Police, who maintain a database of DNA samples from all state prison inmates.
“Knowing who you’re looking for, you’re halfway there,” Perez said.
The test requires only a minuscule amount of DNA - smaller than a grain of salt, he said.
Weapons aren’t officials’ only concern. Inmates aren’t allowed to have cell phones, but more and more of them - even phones with Internet access - are being found behind bars, DOC Commissioner Edwin Buss said.
Officials said that’s a concern because inmates can use cell phones to maintain real-time connections with the outside world, threaten outsiders and even plot crimes - like a New Castle prison inmate accused of running a methamphetamine ring from behind bars.
“Cell phones are a big problem to us,” Buss said.
Officials hope the new technology will be a deterrent, reducing the spread of contraband - which also can include drugs and cigarettes - as inmates realize they can more easily be caught and lose good-time credit so they spend more time behind bars.
“Word like this spreads pretty quickly within the prison system,” Perez said.
Gary Edwards, a 45-year-old inmate with 17 months left to serve on a sentence for attempted murder, said he believed the DNA tracing system would discourage use of handmade weapons.
“I’ve known people who have been in these situations, and it’s a tragedy all the way around,” he said.
The kits are expected to cost the department about $50,000, with half coming from an Indiana Criminal Justice Institute grant. Inmates linked to contraband will be assessed the cost of individual tests, about $450, officials said.
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