California Policy Lab

In 2014, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation began a demonstration of the Enhanced Drug and Contraband Interdiction Program at 11 prisons in California. Using data provided by the Department, this study finds that the intensive version of the program yielded a 23% decline in failure rates of random drug tests over the period studied, and a reduction in the number of cellphone violations, but that these same institutions experienced increased levels of drug-related rules violations. The moderate program had no discernable impact on drug abuse in the prisons in which it was tested.