By Dan Dearth
Herald Mail Media
HAGERSTOWN, Md. — An increase in contraband discovered at the Maryland Correctional Institution south of Hagerstown has spurred prison officials to increase security at the facility, according to a memorandum that was issued to correctional officers last week.
In a March 27 memo issued to all MCI-H employees, Ronald B. Brezler, the prison’s chief of security, wrote that “MCI-H has a serious problem with contraband, especially cell phones.”
As a result, the prison ramped up security measures Tuesday, including making all staff clear a metal detector and be subjected to frisk searches on some occasions.
“(The staff’s) cooperation is necessary and expected to help make this process work effectively and efficiently,” the memo said. “Begin preparing yourself, taking the steps necessary so that you will clear the metal detector.”
Mark Vernarelli, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said Tuesday that 16 contraband cellphones have been found at the medium-security prison in the last few weeks.
“In fact, these cell phones are the first contraband cell phones confiscated in any Hagerstown prison this calendar year,” Vernarelli wrote in an email. “It’s important to point out that the investigation so far indicates that MCI-H staff did a great job in finding the phones almost as soon as they came in. It was their effort that led to these confiscations.”
The DPSCS Internal Investigative Unit, departmental intelligence officers, MCI-H investigators and cellphone analysts were “methodically examining the phones and following up on a number of leads,” he said.
No correctional staff have been charged or implicated, and no correctional employee or employees have been fired or removed from a post because of anything related to cellphones, according to Vernarelli.
Full story: Increase in contraband results in ramped up security at Maryland Correctional Institution