Dispute snags Sinking Spring demolition progress

by Steve Reinbrecht

A dispute between a Sinking Spring property owner and the borough is holding up demolition that will clear the way to improve traffic flow through a major intersection.

Crews have knocked down the old borough hall and Lesher’s Servicenter to make room to straighten the intersection of Columbia, Cacoosing and Penn avenues.

The borough needs to demolish one more building -- a house it owns at 3920 Penn Ave.

The problem is that the adjoining house at 3922 Penn Ave. is more complicatedly connected to the target building than was expected. The house at 3920 was built first. When 3922 was built, the builder did not make a proper support wall, but notched 3920’s existing wall to hold up 3922, according to Borough Manager Mike Hart.

“It was not normal construction,” Hart said. Now 3920 can't be removed without threatening 3922's stability.

Scott A. and Vanessa Dreibelbis bought 3922 for $89,900 in July 2010, according to Berks County records. No one was home there Wednesday morning, and the Dreibelbises could not be reached.

The borough has offered to build a new, proper wall for the Dreibelbises, but they have declined, Hart said, instead asking the borough to buy the house.

The borough won’t buy 3922 because it’s not needed for the work and the borough can’t afford it, he said.

Demolition at the intersection started in September. The work is part of an ambitious plan to build a new road between Route 724 and Columbia Avenue, and build homes, offices, shops and restaurants.

Burglar steals safe, cognac from South Heidelberg house

by Steve Reinbrecht

Someone stole a safe and liquor from a house in South Heidelberg on Dec. 26, but the burglary does not seem related to other recent daytime break-ins in Southwestern Berks this month.

The burglar took the safe, which contained gift cards, and the bottle of cognac about 12:30 p.m. that Monday from the house in the 500 block of Hill Road.

The door might have been unlocked, Police Chief Barry Whitmoyer said. The theft is probably not connected to the four other day-time burglaries reported in Southwestern Berks in December, he said.

Four homes burglarized in Southwestern Berks

by Steve Reinbrecht

Four day-time home burglaries have been reported in Southwestern Berks so far in December.

In the latest intrusion, someone broke into a house in the 200 block of Huntzinger Road in South Heidelberg on Friday, Dec. 16.

A resident discovered the crime upon returning about 2 p.m. The only thing noticed missing was an inexpensive watch, Police Chief Barry Whitmoyer said.

The other three burglaries were reported in Wernersville. No one was immediately available at the Western Berks Police station to give details.

On Dec., 1, a residential burglary was reported in the first block of Heidelberg Drive about 3:50 p.m.

The second was reported about 8:35 a.m. Dec. 6 at a residence in the 400 block of West Penn Avenue.

The third was reported 3:15 p.m. Dec. 15, in the first block of West Penn Avenue.

Argall wants to change law to help Sinking Spring defend against PPL power line

by Steve Reinbrecht

State Sen. David Argall is trying to drum up lawmaking support for two bills that would help Sinking Spring block a 69,000-volt power line from brutally disrupting its renaissance plans.

He posted a Senate “cosponsorship memo” Oct. 4 to solicit support for the two proposals.

Argall expects they will be adopted in time to help the borough, said Jon Hopcraft, Argall’s legislative aide.

“There’s been a ton of investment by the state, the county, the borough,” he said last week. “We don’t want to see it squandered away on account of a transmission line.”

The “proposed transmission line … has outraged the local community as well as hampered major economic development efforts,” Argall wrote in the memo. “My goal is to provide a balanced approach to the needs of the utility while taking into account the wants and needs of the municipality and its residents.”

Argall’s bills would make two changes to Title 66 (Public Utilities). One would add a section requiring that the municipalities approve the plans.

“No transmission line for electricity may be constructed within a municipality unless the governing body of the municipality approves construction of the transmission line according to the criteria established by the municipality.”

The second change would require that the Public Utility Commission conduct public hearing of a proposed transmission line. PPL held a public meeting in Wyomissing on Sept. 22 about its plans for Sinking Spring. Some who attended complained about how it was managed.

“The commission shall conduct a public hearing in the municipality in which a transmission line for electricity is proposed. The public hearing shall provide an opportunity for public comment on the proposal,” the bill says.

Wilson School District will help students deal with stress

by Steve Reinbrecht

Wilson School District plans to start a program to help students – from kindergarten through 12th grade – manage stress.

Teachers, administrators, guidance counselors and other school staff have increasing concerns about the problem, and that prompted the plan for a program. The idea didn’t come from parents, Superintendent Curt Baker said.

After a board meeting Monday, Baker declined to give specific examples of how stress is causing problems, though he did say some students have been acting out in unhealthy ways.

In general, stressed-out teens might suffer declining grades, crying jags, fighting, suicide attempts, or drug use, and Wilson has seen all of those manifestations, Baker said.

Students are more stressed about the future than their parents were at the same age. 

Fear of the future, wondering whether they will do as well as their parents, worrying they won’t be able to get into college or reach their life’s goals – all are stressors for this generation, Baker said.

Poverty increases stress, and Baker noted that one in four students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.

One outcome might be implementing student outreach that goes beyond traditional efforts. Baker said the schools already have great resources, such as a student assistance program (SAP) and excellent counselors.

A study by New York University showed that teenagers “experience high levels of chronic stress, to the extent it impedes their abilities to succeed academically, compromises their mental health functioning, and fosters risk behavior.”

“Over time, selective high schools have oriented themselves to address a context of increasingly competitive college admissions.

“School work, college applications, extracurricular activities, and parental expectations all contribute to teenagers’ stress.

“Youth, schools, and experts identified substance use as a common strategy for coping with stress.”

Wilson educators plan to look at six factors:

• Expectations of students and parents
• Grading, GPAs and grade competition
• Low student resilience
• Poverty and economic situations
• Substance abuse
• Under-involvement and disengagement 

Baker expects to begin by having experts speak to groups by the end of January.

Sinking Spring revitalization committee: This is going to work

by Steve Reinbrecht

The world needs to know that Sinking Spring is serious about its ambitious redevelopment plan, in the works since 2009, borough officials said Thursday.

Getting that message out – that the $80 million project will succeed and improve traffic, grow the town’s tax base and make life better for all Berks Countians – will help the project get over current hurdles, they said.

At their monthly meeting in Borough Hall on Thursday, members of the BOSS 2020 revitalization committee voted to send a report to Borough Council about the project’s goals and accomplishments.

The project has obvious momentum. It has attracted hundreds of thousands of dollars in county and state funds. The first phase resulted in the Spring Market Center on the site of the former Boscov’s store. In the next phase, crews demolished half a dozen buildings on Penn Avenue this fall to make room to straighten the intersection where Cacoosing and Columbia avenues meet Penn Avenue.

Another sign of the project’s traction is that PennDOT has asked consulting engineer Bob Ludgate Sr. to file intersection plans so the state can include them in its ongoing $13.6 million project to resurface Route 422 from Route 724 in Sinking Spring to Wernersville.

But there are obstacles to BOSS 2020.

For one thing, some council members are questioning the cost of the borough’s participation. The borough plans to raise taxes next year.

Spring Township cancels plans to move 2 libraries

by Steve Reinbrecht

Spring Township has cancelled plans to move its two library branches to a single building on Penn Avenue.

 The township had planned to share the building at 3000 Penn Ave. with the Yocum Institute for Arts Education, a Wyomissing arts and performance center.

The institute has dropped its plans to buy the building.

The township had planned to open a 10,000-square-foot library in the giant building

The plan fell through in the final stages, after township supervisors decided not to contribute more funding to the project, township manager Jay Vaughn said Thursday afternoon.

The township’s two branches – the Spring Township library, in Spring Ridge near Isaac’s restaurant, and the West Lawn/Wyomissing Hills branch – can expect the status quo for the foreseeable future, Vaughn said.

In September, John Nelka, director of the Sinking Spring Library, about a mile away, had concerns about the plan.

“I think it’s unfortunate they’re putting it so close,” Nelka said then. He declined to comment Thursday.

The township plans to sell the building.

In August, the Berks County Redevelopment Authority voted to help the Yocum Institute borrow $3.4 million for the move. That deal is off, authority executive director Kenneth Pick said Thursday.

Domestic assaults among worst violence in Southwestern Berks in November

by Steve Reinbrecht

At least three men were charged with assaulting women in November in Southwestern Berks.

In one case, a man terrorized his girlfriend in a bedroom for hours, at one point choking her unconscious, South Heidelberg police said.

In that case, on Nov. 1, William M. Brown, of 132 Walters Ave., just south of Wernersville, was charged with aggravated assault and related offenses. He posted $25,000 bail.

And a young woman robbed a bank with a gun in Lower Heidelberg, probably the same woman who robbed a Spring Township bank three days earlier.

Those were among the worst crimes reported in Wernersville, Lower Heidelberg, South Heidelberg and Sinking Spring last month. In general, the 20,000 residents or so in the area lived in relative peace and safety, measured by police reports and 9-1-1 calls. All together, police reported 38 crimes in the four municipalities in November, up from the 35 reported in October.

As usual, domestic violence prompted many 9-1-1 calls and criminal charges. I gleaned these details from court records at District Judge Ann Young's office and the state website.

In the second domestic-violence report, a Sinking Spring police officer wrote that he could hear the sounds of a man and woman fighting, and a woman yell, “Get off me!” as he approached a house at 318 Windmill St. after midnight on Nov. 4 in response to a 9-1-1 call.

The public deserves to know why Mark Short slaughtered his family

by Steve Reinbrecht

I asked Berks County detectives for a copy of the suicide note Mark Short wrote after he shot his family to death in Sinking Spring on Aug. 6.

Top: Mark Jason Short Sr.; Megan L. Short;
Lianna G. Short, 8; Willow R. Short, 2; Mark J. Short, 5.

That might sound ghoulish. But I had hoped it would shed some light on the thinking of the ultimate domestic abuser.

The county denied my request, I appealed, and the state denied my appeal.

Here is my reasoning:

The issue is whether the public’s right to know more about this incident outweighs the privacy of Mark Short’s survivors.

The public has a strong interest in knowing the content of the note. It would shine light on the twisted thinking behind actions that grievously wounded the community.

Short was a murderer who gave up expectations of privacy when he planned and carried out the massacre of his family. He harmed the community grievously, and community members deserve to know the cause of their pain and grief.

• He forced first-responders and other public servants to immerse themselves in a crime scene of unimaginable atrocity.
• Wilson School District provided counseling for residents. One of the victims would be in third grade in the Green Valley Elementary School.
• Local religious leaders cited the incident in their sermons.
• Media around the world covered the tragedy.

Releasing the suicide note would give insight into the horrors of domestic violence, a problem that is both pervasive and neglected. If children are murdered, it’s probably by a parent, as in this case.

Now is the time to comment on your local taxes

by Steve Reinbrecht

Municipal officials in Southwestern Berks have started the process of calculating how much to charge you for their services.

And they want you to come to the meetings to examine the budgets and comment on tax plans for Lower Heidelberg, South Heidelberg, Sinking Spring and Wernersville.

“This is your money, to be blunt,” said Lower Heidelberg secretary Theresa Connors. 

“Taxpayers should have an interest and should have a say.”

Sinking Spring plans to adopt its final budget tonight, Thursday, Dec. 1. It calls for a tax increase of 0.68 mill, to a total of 8 mills. That would add $136 a year to a property assessed at $200,000.

South Heidelberg supervisors have proposed increasing property taxes by 0.75 mill, which would add $150 a year for a house assessed at $200,000.

Supervisors plan to vote on the proposed budget and tax increase Dec. 8. South Heidelberg has 21.5 employees.

The township increased its contribution to the Wernersville Library from $14,542 to $18,178, or $2.50 a year for each resident.

South Heidelberg’s 2017 preliminary budget calls for total expenditures that are about $44,000 higher than those in the 2016 budget’s, a rise of less than 2 percent.

On the other hand, with the proposed tax increase, budgeted revenues would rise almost $415,000, or 13 percent over revenues budgeted in 2016.

South Heidelberg would have a fund balance of almost $1.4 million, up 30 percent over the fund balance in the 2016 budget.

Kudos to South Heidelberg for posting its complete preliminary budget on the township’s website.

Lower Heidelberg’s preliminary budget, adopted Nov. 21, calls for no tax increase. The township didn’t raise taxes in 2016 or 2015, and actually lowered them in 2014.

Lower Heidelberg supervisors plan to vote on the proposed budget Dec. 19.

The township also increased its contribution to the Wernersville Library, from $6,891 to $16,539, or $3 a head.

Under the proposed 2017 budget, township employees would start contributing to health-insurance costs. Lower Heidelberg employs 16 full-time workers and 2 part-time workers.

The preliminary budget calls for expenditures of about $3.11 million, up $110,000 from the 2016 budget.

The budget’s expenditures are balanced to the dollar. The township has a reserve fund outside the budget of about $1 million.

Wernersville plans to adopt a preliminary budget at a public meeting Dec. 7.

Police service generally takes up the biggest part of municipal budgets. Local municipalities also maintain roadways, provide zoning and planning oversight, and contribute to fire departments and ambulance companies.

Three assaults investigated in Southwestern Berks in October

by Steve Reinbrecht

The worst crimes reported in Southwestern Berks County in October were three assaults in Sinking Spring.

In one case, on Oct. 20, borough police reported a domestic assault about 7 p.m. in the 600 block of Vester Place.

When they arrived, Sinking Spring police had to wrestle a 7-month-old baby from a man who was holding her when they tried to arrest him, according to court documents.

According to the complaint, in District Judge Ann Young’s office:

The father, 25, was sitting outside their apartment holding the infant and crying when police responded.

The man told police that the couple had started fighting when he took car keys to prevent the mother, 28, from taking a car. The mother tackled, punched and bit the father while he was holding the baby, who at one point hit her head on a wall.

The father got irate when police told him that the child needed to go to a hospital to be examined. Police insisted he release the baby because he was under arrest, but he held her tighter.

One officer put the father in a choke hold, and he released the baby before passing out for a several seconds.

Police charged him with resisting arrest, and the mother with assault. Those charges were dismissed after they pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.

The baby was kept overnight at a hospital.

The same day, an assault was reported about 8:40 a.m. at a house in the 200 block of Elwyn Avenue. Police Chief Lee Schweyer said it is under investigation.

The third assault was reported Oct. 29 in the 700 block of Ruth Street. Several people fought outside that Saturday night, but no charges were filed.

See the August 2016 crime report for Southwestern Berks.

See the September 2016 crime report for Southwestern Berks.

All together, police reported 35 crimes in Wernersville, Lower Heidelberg, South Heidelberg and Sinking Spring in October, up from the 32 reported in September.

I found another database to plumb for local-crime information – Berks County’s “time response log.”

South Heidelberg store aims for family-farmer-horse-lover-homestead-DIY-rural-lifestyle niche

by Steve Reinbrecht

An unusual, to me, big-box chain store has opened in an old supermarket in a strip mall on Route 422 in South Heidelberg Township.

I didn’t ever visit Tractor Supply Company since it opened July 23 because I don’t have a tractor. 

But thinking about economic development in the area led me to look inside on Black Friday. The company says it has 1,500 stores across the country, but I have never seen one quite like it.

Out of beet-pulp horse treats? Get a 40-pound bag off the shelf.

Aisles are full of all kinds of tools and fasteners, so close to home. I hate driving through Sinking Spring to Lowe’s in the middle of a project.

Country music over speakers and country music for sale.

Big signs say things like “Clothing & Boots,” “Welding & Tools,” Truck &Trailer.”

Log splitters to fit any budget. Propane heaters, small to barn-size. Gun-cleaning kits. Generators. Bits and bridles. Fencing. Animal traps. Truck tool boxes. All sorts of tires and wheels, for carts, trailers, tractors, wheelbarrows ….

Hydraulic hoses. Everything you need to erect an electric fence. Pig food, and the feed bins to slop it into. “Young Rider” and “Modern Farmer” magazines. Gourmet dog food. Racks of clothes, with displays of camouflage and overalls.

One shopper told me she had been going to Myerstown for supplies she can now find here.

A man walking out the door with a roll of wire screening under his arm said he lives nearby and has shopped there many times since it opened.

“For things you can’t get at other places, like this.”

The manager said she was not permitted to answer any of my questions, not even, “How’s business?” or “What can I get here that I can’t get at Lowe’s?” She called HQ on my behalf and found out that I must not even take photos.

The company, based in Brentwood, Tenn., spent $500,000 on turning the former Shurfine supermarket, which closed in 2013, into the big-box chain store, according to a building permit filed with the township April 12.

In a boilerplate news release, TSC said it chose the spot at 4750 Penn Ave. just west of Sinking Spring because there are so many horse farms and family farms in the area. It said the store has 13 employees.

The website says it sells things to help people “maintain their farms, ranches, homes and animals,” citing “the ‘do it yourself’ trend.”

State has no plans to expand Wernersville Community Corrections Center

by Steve Reinbrecht

The state Department of Corrections has no plans to expand the number of residents at the Wernersville Community Corrections Center [WCCC] in South Heidelberg, a spokeswoman said last week. 

Township residents and local officials have safety concerns about the 260 or so men from all over Pennsylvania, just out of prison, who live at the center, a sort of half-way house off Sportsman Road. The residents often take BARTA buses to Reading and back.

South Heidelberg Police Chief Barry Whitmoyer has said the center should have fewer residents – and would be best limited to people from Berks.

About 18 percent of the population are from outside Berks. That's because the places where they live don’t have these kinds of centers, department spokeswoman Amy Worden said in an e-mail.

She said the residents, whom she calls “re-entrants,” are in the half-way house program to help them get education and work so they can succeed after incarceration.

Whitmoyer also thinks it’s inefficient to have the men so far from jobs and educational opportunities.

Worden said the center, a former state mental hospital, is well suited for the WCCC's operations. Center officials are considering offering more services at the center to reduce some of the outside traveling and to better serve the residents, she said.

Department officials met with Wernersville Police Chief William Schlichter last week to discuss community issues, Worden said. He wasn't immediately available.

She said the department has received complaints of WCCC residents gathering in small groups in the Wernersville area, that some have behaved inappropriately or loitered in businesses.

“Unfortunately some of the re-entrants have committed new offenses in the Berks County area.”

Worden acknowledged there have been 21 drug overdoses at the WCCC so far this year.

Worden gave these answers to my questions.

“The Department of Corrections is committed to ensuring the safety of communities in which our halfway houses are located,” she wrote.

What is the goal and purpose of the center?

The goal of the center is to successfully return re-entrants to their homes and their communities as productive, law-abiding citizens.

Why is the center established so far out in the sticks?

The physical plant at Wernersville Community Corrections Center was designed as part of the [Wernersville State Hospital] mental health facility. Given the design, it aligned well with the pre-release mission that preceded the current operation at WCCC.

Where do the residents work and get education?

Most of the re-entrants work in the Reading metropolitan area, while some venture further afield. For the most part, those re-entrants involved in education or treatment programming do so at WCCC or [other places] in Berks County. The majority of those receiving those services go off site.

We are considering delivering more services on site in order to reduce some of the outside movement and better serve the re-entrant clientele.

Why not limit residence to Berks, as the local police chief recommends?

We generally try to keep re-entrants as close to their eventual homes as possible. WCCC serves Berks and surrounding counties.

There is a need to provide services for those re-entrants from the surrounding counties that exceeds our current capacity in those areas.

We are constantly trying to develop options across the Commonwealth to better serve our population.

What are the restrictions on when residents can come and go?

The re-entrants may only come and go as needed for work, programs, to support their eventual home plans or the occasional emergency.

Their movements are limited in accordance with rules established by the DOC and the Board of Probation and Parole.

What is the legal status of the residents? On parole, free, still adjudicated?

The re-entrants are on parole but as such have the same status as those living “at home.” Within the limitations of the rules described above they have the same rights as you or I.

What complaints have you received about the center?

We have received complaints of too many re-entrants gathering in small groups in the Wernersville area.

We have heard that some re-entrants have gotten too familiar with local citizens and/or have used inappropriate language, behaved inappropriately or loitered in certain businesses.

And we have had complaints of drug use. Unfortunately some of the re-entrants have committed new offenses in the Berks County area.

Are there plans to increase the population there?

There are absolutely no plans to increase the population at WCCC.

How many drug overdoses have been reported there so far this year?

21 overdoses. (To put this in perspective, 600 re-entrants have been housed there total this year. This is a total number, not all at one time. They cycle through according to their sentencing.)

How many residents were transferred to WCCC when the Allentown center closed?.

Fewer than a dozen re-entrants were transferred as a direct result of the closing of Allentown CCC.

South Heidelberg police officers all have Tasers

by Steve Reinbrecht

All seven South Heidelberg police officers plus the chief now have Tasers – handheld weapons that shoot thin wires onto uncooperative suspects and knock them down with electrical shocks.

The eight weapons bring the force to modern standards, Police Chief Barry Whitmoyer said.

Each Taser cost $900. The township spent $10,000, including batteries, holsters, and cartridges. The Fritztown Fire Company social quarters contributed $5,000, and the township expects to get a subsidy from the Berks district attorney’s office to offset the cost.

The weapons help protect the officers by giving them a method to subdue a non-cooperative person other than fighting him or shooting him, Whitmoyer said. Often simply the sight of the Taser calms an unruly person.

“Just seeing the red [targeting] light is a deterrent,” Whitmoyer said.

And the new Tasers come with “warning arcs” – flashing blue sparks zapping from the front of the weapon to show the suspect what he’s facing.

In general, opponents of the weapons cite that hundreds of people have died after being shot by a Taser, and that officers have been charged with using them when not necessary.

South Heidelberg bought X2 models, the latest available. They provide a backup shot, so officers don’t have to reload if the first shot misses or there are two suspects.

Police got the weapons in October, and haven’t used one yet, Whitmoyer said. The department will report and document every time they are fired, he said.

Whitmoyer said he was surprised when he took the job July 1 to discover his officers haven’t been equipped with the weapons. Officers in adjacent municipalities have them, he said.

Supervisors approved the purchase Sept. 8.

Man trapped, beat girlfriend in bedroom, South Heidelberg police say

by Steve Reinbrecht

A man terrorized his girlfriend for hours in a bedroom, at one point choking her unconscious, according to a South Heidelberg police complaint.

William M. Brown, of 132 Walters Ave., just south of Wernersville, was charged with aggravated assault and related offenses.

According to the complaint:

The woman called 9-1-1 from a neighbor’s home just before 2 a.m. on Nov. 1. She told police that Brown had trapped her in the bedroom and that she had escaped when she asked to go to the bathroom.

She had bruises and cuts on her face, neck and feet, and was taken to a hospital.

The victim told police that Brown, 38, described as 6-feet 7-inches and 275 pounds, had been drinking and got angry before dragging her up the stairs and keeping her in the bedroom. 

At different times, he choked her until she was unconscious, punched her in the face, told her he was going to murder her, and would not let her leave.

In October, Southwestern Berks – Lower Heidelberg, South Heidelberg, Wernersville and Sinking Spring – had 35 calls to 9-1-1 for domestic problems, according to county records.

Six people filed for protection-from abuse orders. A PFA is a court order that someone – often an abusive domestic partner – stay away from the person who files it.

In general, many of the assaults in the township are domestic, South Heidelberg Police Chief Barry Whitmoyer said.

In a terrible case in the area that got worldwide attention, Mark Short murdered his wife, Megan, and three young children, Lianna, Mark and Willow, on Aug. 6 before killing himself in their home in Sinking Spring. Megan had been planning to move out.

South Heidelberg chief wants fewer ex-prisoners in state’s halfway house

by Steve Reinbrecht

UPDATE: The state Department of Corrections did respond to my request for comment. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++

The South Heidelberg police chief has safety concerns about hundreds of men, right out of prison, housed in the middle of nowhere [the eastern part of South Heidelberg] traveling back and forth to Reading on BARTA buses looking for work, hanging out with friends or perhaps buying heroin.

“A lot of residents have voiced their concerns over this,” Chief Barry Whitmoyer said.

He's worried about dangerous drugs at the Wernersville Community Corrections Center, off Sportsman Road.

Residents have left the center recently and done bad things. They come and go all day long.

The WCCC had 278 residents Oct. 26, according to a state corrections department report. Two were murderers, six were sex offenders, 22 had been imprisoned for assault, and 69 for arson, robbery or burglary.

Some have been in trouble lately. Last Monday, Nov. 14, a WCCC resident returned from a work-related day pass with suspected drugs and paraphernalia, state police said.

In October, another man who had a bed in the WCCC, Harold J. McGurl Jr., 42, of Ashland, was charged with trying to slash a man to death back in his hometown after leaving the WCCC.

In August, another WCCC resident, Sean Patrick Gilgallon, from Lackawanna, was charged with robbing a bank in South Heidelberg and leading police on a chase and search.

Chief Barry Whitmoyer

Whitmoyer, who started as chief July 1, is concerned that the inmates bring drugs into the community, demonstrated by frequent overdoses.