HOUSTON — A new team of drug-detecting dogs has joined daily efforts to crack down on narcotics and other items being smuggled into Harris County jail buildings.
The K9 unit was introduced in April to “provide additional protection against the infiltration of dangerous contrabands,” according to a Facebook post from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
When KHOU 11 News was given an exclusive look at the K9 program in May, Detention Officer Byron Hickman led his K9 partner Zara through a cell block simulating a search for smuggled drugs.
In front of KHOU 11 News cameras, Zara could sniff out multiple pieces of dummy contraband planted throughout the cell block.
“This is what they’re trained to do, to help prevent any of this contraband from coming in,” said Detention Officer Jose Davila. “Often times our searches for narcotics end with us finding other items that inmates are not supposed to have like cellphones."
Davila explained that Harris County Sheriff’s Office K9s have been used to search for contraband in jail facilities before, but the new K9 unit was uniquely assigned to the jail system to take on the persistent contraband problem.
KHOU 11 News has previously reported on the ongoing struggle to keep drugs out of jail facilities.
In November 2023, an HSCO investigation into illegal contraband uncovered two different operations that were smuggling drug-soaked papers into jail facilities. A detention officer and a 77-year-old retired defense attorney were among several people arrested and charged in connection to those drug-soaked papers.
With the introduction of the K9 unit, jail employees and contractors now have their belongings sniffed and searched daily when they enter jail facilities. When cell blocks are searched, inmates are removed before K9s enter. The Harris County Sheriff's Office confirms that recent K9 searches have already detected some contraband.
“You would think that once they saw that we had these dogs on hand some people would not want to bring stuff in but our dogs have been finding things,” Officer Davila said.
The K9 unit consists of 5 different dogs and their handlers, according to a Facebook post. Detention Officers Patrick Allen, Noah Almendarez, Jose Davila, Byron Hickman, and Amanda McIsaac are paired with their respective K9 partners: Chi, Rip, Koozie, Zara, and Don.
The dogs will undergo training to detect various items, such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, MDMA, kush, tobacco, K2 and lithium niobate.
HCSO leaders tell KHOU 11 News they hope the K9 unit serves as a deterrent, ultimately discouraging contraband from coming into the jail before it needs to be found.
“That’s what this program is about, is to reduce that type of stuff,” said Deputy Thomas Gilliland. “The more that we can do that, to deter that person or this type of thing coming in, that will be the best impact that we can make.”
Gilliland added that Harris County jail buildings have also recently implemented digital mail systems to limit the flow of paper correspondence that could be laced with or soaked in drugs.