NEW YORK — In a concerning alert to local authorities back in 2022, Louis Molina, the jails commissioner for New York City, revealed that a significant influx of fentanyl was making its way into Rikers Island via postal mail. He highlighted the deadly impact this had on inmates, leading to an alarming wave of overdoses and putting the safety of corrections staff at risk.
To illustrate his point, Molina shared an example of a child’s drawing of a reindeer, asserting it was among multiple items absorbed with fentanyl and sent to detainees. However, a report published recently by the city’s Department of Investigation has unveiled that these claims were rooted in unreliable drug-testing kits, which yielded an astounding 85% false positive rate. This revelation indicates that the city might have greatly exaggerated the extent of fentanyl being mailed to those in custody.
After re-evaluating 71 parcels that had been flagged in earlier tests as containing fentanyl, investigators discovered that only 10 actually contained any trace of the substance. Notably, the drawing of the reindeer cited by Molina tested negative for fentanyl.
The erroneous field tests that suggested a significant amount of fentanyl-laden mail entering Rikers fueled Mayor Eric Adams’ administration’s initiative to prohibit physical mail for inmates. In its place, city officials recommended that correspondence be sent to an offsite vendor who would digitize the messages for detainees to access via tablets, a method already employed in New York’s state prisons. This proposal, however, has faced resistance from a jail oversight board, preventing it from moving forward.
In light of the investigation’s disturbing findings, Jocelyn Strauber, the commissioner of the Department of Investigation, emphasized that the city ought to reconsider its mailing restrictions for detainees. She voiced her concerns, stating, “The field tests don’t substantiate a belief that a high volume of fentanyl-laden items is arriving through the mail. To the extent that policy decisions are based on flawed data, they should be reassessed.”
Advocates for detainees have maintained that the majority of drugs entering the jail system are smuggled in by employees, who can easily bring contraband into the facility and sell it to gang members. Over recent years, numerous correction officers have faced legal action following investigations into drug smuggling operations at Rikers Island.
According to the Department of Investigation’s findings, corrections officials have not acted on many previous recommendations aimed at better screening staff for contraband. A spokesperson for the Department of Correction shared that the agency is committed to reviewing the report’s recommendations and refining its testing methods. “Field tests serve as a rapid check for potential threats, and while they are not foolproof, they are a crucial aspect of our safety measures,” the spokesperson stated.
In recent years, the use of such field tests has surged as opioid overdose deaths have escalated across the country, providing law enforcement with a way to quickly assess substances without waiting for lengthy lab confirmations. However, there have always been concerns regarding the accuracy of these tests. Federal regulations mandate that manufacturers include warnings on packaging, noting that results are provisional until confirmed by laboratory analysis, a follow-up that seldom occurs in correction facilities.
Last November, it was revealed that New York’s state prison system had wrongfully punished over 2,000 detainees due to faulty drug tests produced by Sirchie Finger Print Laboratories. Until recently, Rikers Island’s testing kits were also sourced from Sirchie, but following concerns over their reliability, the Department of Correction transitioned to products from DetectaChem last April.
The investigation has shown that DetectaChem’s test strips had a false positive rate of 79%, whereas Sirchie’s results were incorrect 91% of the time. Sirchie did not respond to inquiries regarding these claims. Travis Kisner, the chief operating officer of DetectaChem, stated that the company is still evaluating the report while expressing confidence in the quality of their products.