$83,000 Side Hustle
$83,000 Side Hustle

$83,000 Side Hustle

In the news:

As many of you know, I don’t usually write about stories that have been in the news. I was asked to write about this one by parents of loved ones who are currently incarcerated in this prison. These parents are very upset and angry to say the very least.  They want their voice to be heard not just locally but globally. Let me explain the details of the  news story and then the opinions of the parents.

News Report: Counselor in an Arizona prison is arrested for smuggling and selling drugs to inmates.

News Report:

ref: abcnews.com

About two weeks ago, Correctional Officer III Berman Comon was arrested in Arizona on drug charges. He was selling drugs and other dangerous contraband to inmates. CO3 Comon was employed as a counselor at one of the facilities in Arizona.   CO3 Comon’s accomplices are three inmates that would package and distribute the drugs. They are being accused of “middleman supplier for inmates”.  Cueves (outside source) Police found prison-style cell phones, drug packaging paraphernalia, and 262 grams of heroin at her home.

The set-up:

Detectives found  $83,000 worth of drugs that were smuggled into the prison including heroin and fentanyl. Comon brought the drugs in Styrofoam cups and an ice machine. Those items wouldn’t go through the body scan. Once through the body scan, he would go to his office, inmates would come and help him package, sell and distribute. He sold other contraband like “prison cell phones”.

The charges:

Attorney Generals Office is accusing  Comon and Cueves of multiple felonies which are:

  • taking contraband (narcotic drugs) into a correctional facility
  • money laundering
  • conspiracy
  • transporting and possession of narcotic drugs

Conversations with the parents:

I have stated many times in blog posts that I do not think that anyone that has drug addiction should be sentenced to prison. The access to drugs is too easy for an addict. Families get extorted for thousands of dollars to support those drugs in prison, sometimes by your own loved one. Your loved ones are easy pray for others to take advantage of because of  drug addiction.

One family had this say ” Finally, (Prison in Arizona) is being looked at for drugs. Lewis should be characterized as a drug house with barbed wire fences. Corrections officer III Beman Comon being exposed as a drug mule at (Prison) is only the tip of the iceberg. He distribution of drugs alone with out consideration of the other contraband, should be enough to mandate a top down investigation of every corner of that facility and all others within the Arizona Department of Corrections.

There is practically no limit to the drug bill of fare available to any inmate in  the system. It is part of the career training for fellow inmates to avail drugs to other inmates and foster their addiction. Once the inmate becomes an addicted customer they are used as tools of the inside drug cartel. Since the addicted inmate has no way of paying for their drugs, they reach out to their family and extort money from them. The inmate preys on his own family by conveying threats of harm to themselves. “Pay or I’ll be hurt or killed” becomes the inmate’s mantra.

The designation Arizona Department of Corrections is itself as absurdity. Not unlike a governing board for universities, it is as much as an oversight committee for trade academies of scholarly criminals. Their use of the word corrections has become a very diminished definition”.

Another Mom said:” My son would be alive today is he had gone to rehab instead of prison. He had access to drugs in prison. To make money for his drug habit in prison, he ran store. After his released  he was homeless, on drugs, he overdosed. He died right there on the side of the road with a needle sticking out of his arm. It was during the one of the hottest July’s we have had in Arizona.”

Some other parents said “ As soon as my son was released he was getting high in the first 48 hours. he left our house, to live with people we didn’t even know. He was missing his parole officer meeting and he had a warrant out for his arrest. He was facing jail time already. All because he wasn’t clean in prison and he knew where to find drugs as soon as he was released. 

Questions parents asked:

Why did the guards who run the body scan machine not scan his cups and ice machine? Maybe they were a lower rank then he was. What were the guards doing when he was in his office with three inmates? Were these inmates allowed to wonder around the grounds freely? That’s kind of scary of that is what happened. Were the guards afraid of the counselor? Was the counselor paying them not to say anything? If so, that was their side hustle and all they had to do was look away. Maybe it was a man code, not being a rat, snitch or a whistleblower type of thing. We may never know.

My opinion:

I have said many times that people addicted to drugs should not been incarcerated. They need a rehabilitation facility. Drug addiction is an illness.  I know how much money they have spent over the years trying to get help for their loved one and how much some of these families  have been extorted for.  However, once a parent, always a parent.

When your loved one gets sent to prison, you worry about them getting physically attack from other inmates but not ever from counselors, guards, kitchen staff or laundry staff. Lately, I’m finding out that couldn’t be further from the truth. I will leave you with last thought.

Does anyone have a heart or a conscience (is a very old way of making a profit) when it comes to selling drugs?

If you have a comment or story that you would like me share, please send it to. I love ready all your comments. Unitl next time!

 

 

 

2 Comments

  1. Sue

    Just awful. You’re right if you don’t like your job or it’s too much change it. Don’t supply someone drugs when they have a habit., get them the help they need.

  2. Henry

    That sucks!!! He should have been fired on the spot and now he gets to sit behind those very same bars with those people he was supplying to. Now isn’t that karma. hahaha

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