Penal Code Section 4573: Smuggling Controlled Substances into Prison or Jail
(a) Except when otherwise authorized by law, or when authorized by the person in charge of the prison or other institution referred to in this section or by an officer of the institution empowered by the person in charge of the institution to give the authorization, any person, who knowingly assists in bringing into, or sending into, any state prison, prison road camp, prison forestry camp, or other prison camp or prison farm or any other place where prisoners of the state are located under the custody of prison officials, officers or employees, or into any county, city and county, or city jail, road camp, farm or other place where prisoners or inmates are located under custody of any sheriff, chief of police, peace officer, probation officer or employees, or within the grounds belonging to the institution, any controlled substance, the possession of which is prohibited by Division 10 (commending with Section 11000 of the health and safety code, any device, contrivance, instrument, or paraphernalia intended to be used to unlawfully injecting or consuming a controlled substance, is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for two, three, or four years.
(b) The prohibition and sanctions addressed in this section shall be clearly and prominently posted outside of, and at the entrance to, the grounds of all detention facilities under the jurisdiction of, or operated by, the state or any city, county or city and county.
Working in Fresno County in the Criminal Defense Field, and being one of the top DUI and Narcotics attorneys that practices in both State and Federal Court I have seen cases of clients and their loved ones who are incarcerated being arrested and charged with bringing illegal substances or devices into the prison or jail setting. These are serious charges, that carry serious and potentially lengthy prison sentences for those accused. Many items can include hypodermic needles or similar injection devices, pipes to smoke narcotics from, actual solid drugs, and liquid form narcotics.
One of the available defense is identification of the substances. Many times the method of testing may be a presumptive or other science based challenges to the methods such as color testings, microscopic analysis, or gas chromatography. Jonathan has a vast education on the topic that exceeds most attorneys level of understanding of the laboratory analysis that should be performed to correctly identify if the substance is proven to be an illegal substances.