Court Bars Drug Tests for U.S. Prison Workers Pending Ruling

SAN FRANCISCO —  A federal appeals court has refused to allow the Reagan Administration to begin random drug testing of all 13,000 federal prison employees during an appeal of a ruling prohibiting the program.

In an order made public Friday, Judges Dorothy Nelson and William Norris of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Administration’s request to let the testing program proceed while the case is appealed.

U.S. District Judge Stanley Weigel blocked the program from taking effect as scheduled May 23 and then issued a preliminary injunction June 16 that continues the ban until a union’s lawsuit against the program goes to trial.

Weigel said the government had shown no justification for testing “innocent, law-abiding and wholly competent” workers. He noted that the proposed drug testing would apply to clerical employees outside the prison walls as well as armed guards.

The Bureau of Prisons is appealing his ruling and asked the appeals court for a stay that would have allowed testing to begin.

The bureau was to have been one of the first federal agencies to implement drug testing under a September, 1986, executive order by President Reagan, who ordered testing of all federal workers in “sensitive” jobs. The bureau has declared all of its employees hold “sensitive” jobs.

The program would require random testing of 5% to 10% of the Bureau of Prisons staff each year, with additional testing of managers, probationary employees and those involved in accidents.