Policy changes to fight drugs coming to Virginia prisons

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia’s Department of Corrections is changing visitation and mail policies after inmate overdose deaths.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/2oi7PEO) that among the changes taking effect this month, inmates will change into specially issued clothes for visits and be searched before and after visits; inmates will receive photocopies of mail and visitors’ vending machine purchases will be restricted.

DOC spokeswoman Lisa Kinney says nine inmates have died since 2015 of overdoses. Last year, 31 visitors were caught bringing drugs into prisons, and drugs were found in the mail 12 times.

Other states have tried similar methods to stop smuggling. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire sued that state’s Department of Corrections in 2015 over a policy barring greeting cards, postcards and drawings. That suit is still pending.

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Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.timesdispatch.com