WFMJ.com News weather sports for Youngstown-Warren OhioK-9 cops search the Mahoning County jail

K-9 cops search the Mahoning County jail

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - A rare glimpse inside the living quarters of inmates at the Mahoning County jail, as K-9 Units from two counties hunt for illegal drugs on Tuesday.  

Law enforcement agencies from Youngstown, Boardman, Canfield, Liberty and McDonald, as well as BCI, or the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, all took part in the cell searches.

The supply and demand for drugs behind bars is a problem for jails and prisons all over the country and Mahoning County's lock-up is no exception.   Major Alki Santamas says while the drug sniffing dogs performed their search, inmates were moved to the gym and patted down.

Deputy Jeff McGlaughlin and his K-9 Mercy teamed up with Deputy Jeff Saluga and his four-year-old partner Lars, to sniff out contraband in jail cells and recreation areas for minimum to medium security male prisoners. 

It's suspected that the vast majority of illegal substances come in through the mail.  Mahoning County Sheriff's Department Captain John Beshara says, "It could be marijuana, it could be cocaine, cocaine in powder form, or it could be a rock of cocaine.  One of the ways they slip LSD in or try to is putting a little bit of the LSD liquid on the back of a stamp."

Drug trafficking behind bars is a major contributor to institutional violence and that can put the lives of deputies and the public who work in the jail in danger, that's why these unannounced, periodic searches are critical according to Captain Beshara, "In a jail environment unfortunately contraband such as illegal drugs or drugs in general they do find their way in to the jails, and that's a common occurrence in jails and prisons around this country."

There was only one possible hit at the Mahoning County jail, but no drugs were found. 

Deputies say that means someone may have hid drugs in that location at one point, but have since removed the contraband.