ST. GABRIEL — A tighter crackdown on contraband at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center has led to more than 20 employee arrests this year.

Officials say tougher screening and a zero-tolerance policy have also cut the number of suspicious and overdose-type deaths at Hunt.

"Over the past weeks and months, we have seen a big decline in the amount of what we call suspicious deaths or overdose-type deaths," said Iberville Parish Sheriff Brett Stassi.

All people who visit Hunt must go through a full vehicle and body search. An X-ray machine that everyone must pass through shows places where someone could be hiding contraband.

These tools and a change in leadership have led to a 600 percent increase in employee arrests.

Louisiana Department of Corrections Chief of Operations Seth Smith says a $5-per-hour pay raise for new hires at Hunt helped reduce vacancies and improve hiring.

"In doing that, we've reduced the amount of vacancies significantly; we've increased the quality of what we can hire," Smith said.

At the Iberville Parish Jail, Stassi says the jail recently invested just under $300,000 in a similar X-ray machine for employees and inmates. He credits the joint push between his office and the DOC with slowing contraband at Hunt.

So far this year, 36 inmates have died at Hunt, according to data the Louisiana Department of Corrections provided to the WBRZ Investigative Unit. Four of those deaths involved drug overdoses, and 11 remain unexplained.

The string of unexpected deaths slowed significantly at the end of March after new policies and procedures took effect. Warden Travis Day took charge in February as Hunt's fourth warden in four years.