Properly documented records of drugs recovered inside jails are not readily available in Southern Maryland, but all three sheriffs and jail heads told The Bay Net the problem is minimal and occasional.

At the work release section of Charles County’s Detention Center – which could rival the best of any hostel accommodation – Pamela Dottelis runs the show. Dottelis was promoted to director of the Charles County Corrections Division by Sheriff Rex Coffey. Dottelis, who has a quarter of century of experience behind her, became the first-ever female head of a correctional facility in Southern Maryland’s history.

For Coffey, Dottelis’ wealth of experience was key in her appointment as director. It makes absolutely no sense to post a sworn officer with no idea of how a jail operates to head of a correctional center, insists the sheriff. According to Coffey, the perception that none of the correctional facility staff could get internally promoted to that top position had led to low morale at the facility.

Interestingly, a position as head of a detention center is often an unappealing prospect to many senior police officers. Under the tenure of Former Sheriff Dave Zylak, heading the detention center was tasked to Tim Cameron, who left the sheriff’s office to direct the Department of Public Safety and last year successfully ran for sheriff against Zylak.

Dottelis and Coffey were forthcoming on the issue of drugs in the jail.

Dottelis confirmed illicit drugs, like crack cocaine and marijuana, are found approximately once a month at the correctional center in Charles County. She said that in these cases no one can be charged as there are no names to put on the recovered drugs.

She explained at intake time new inmates may hide drugs inside the grooves in the benches. “We have seen that happen on the camera,” Coffey said. Cameron said no such bench issues plague the detention center in St. Mary’s.

Charles County is part of what is called the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. Last fall, House Majority leader Steny Hoyer successfully led the charge against President Bush’s proposed budget cut that would have taken funding away from HIDTA; Hoyer was also instrumental in securing the Washington/Baltimore area’s designation into HIDTA in 1994.

Although funding for the treatment of incarcerated addicts – provided by an HIDTA grant – was lost a couple of months ago, Dottelis said she the health department had found an alternate grant.

Interestingly, though work release inmates are strip searched in Charles County and Calvert jails they still appear to be the worst smugglers of contraband, including drugs. Their search can be described as superficial.

As the communities in Southern Maryland grapple to find the best option available to deal with addicts, Barbara Zeigler, one of Maryland’s most widely respected counselors, who works for Walden Sierra, told The Bay Net in her view some drug addicts deserve to be put behind the bars, no matter what.

“Off the top of my head, some must stay in jail, some must get treatment inside the jail, and some must be sent to treatment centers,” she said, adding all three practices are in place in St. Mary’s. The other counties also have those systems in place.

Zeigler believes drug addicts who commit a serious crime or are considered a serious threat to society must remain in jail. Those who commit a lesser crime but are repeat offenders should get treatment inside the jail, said Zeigler, and those who are first time offenders should be sent to treatment centers.

Both Dottelis and Coffey felt trying to dig out drug use in a community jail was barking up the wrong tree. “We do not have a major drug issue. State prisons have a big issue,” Dottelis said. Coffey added, “In D.C. jails there were reports of correctional officers being involved in the drug trafficking.”

There’s also a small problem at the Detention Center in Calvert County.

“Yes, occasionally,” Calvert County Sheriff Mike Evans said about drugs being found inside the correctional center. “Less than 12 times in a year,” added Detection Center Administrator Milton Crump.

Crump initially said in some months drugs might be recovered two or three times, then corrected his calculation to once each month, and finally concluded less than 12 times in a year.

Crump said drugs are recovered during the strip search that is in place for certain classifications of prisoners. At other times work release inmates, returning to the jail, carry the drugs in their clothing, but are intercepted. Crump conceded drugs that can’t be attributed to anyone are also recovered at the jail, from time to time.

 Officers arresting addicts or dealers are often obliged to mask their faces when they bring in an arrested person. During a tour of the Charles County jail, a sheriff’s deputy from the narcotics unit was seen wearing a mask as he did the paper work while lodging an arrested person. “This procedure has been in existence for a long time,” Dottelis said. Cameron confirmed this precaution was also taken in St. Mary’s when warranted.

Coffey explained the deputies carry out sting operations, buying drugs as fake patrons, and put a mask as an extra precaution.

All three counties bring drug detection dogs inside the correctional centers for random checks. “It’s randomly regular,” Coffey explained. “Believe me the dogs are very good at what they do,” the down to earth sheriff, who was once a police dog handler, said.