Pubdate: Wed, 30 Jan 2008
Source: Agassiz Harrison Observer (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 Agassiz Observer
Contact:  http://www.agassizharrisonobserver.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1344

CORRECTIONS SAY BABIES USED AS PRISON DRUG MULES

Babies and young children are being used to smuggle drugs into federal
prisons, and an Abbotsford corrections officer who reported this
situation to the provincial child welfare ministry is being
investigated, says the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO).

Gord Robertson, B.C. president for UCCO, said the Matsqui prison guard
has not been formally disciplined but his actions came under scrutiny
of Correctional Service Canada (CSC) for breaching inmate privacy.

"The CSC reaction focused on the inmate privacy, which apparently
trumps the safety of the child. CSC still feels it's a privacy breach,
and what Terry did for the child was wrong," said Robertson.

While reviewing prison records in the fall, corrections officer Terry
Leger noted a female visitor had tested positive in drug scans
repeatedly during eight visits to Matsqui from March through July.

Despite the positive results she was allowed entry into Matsqui on
three occasions.

Even more alarming, said Robertson, was that on the last two visits it
was her baby's clothing and sleeper that had tested positive.

In November, Leger discovered another woman at Matsqui was allowed a
visit even after her child's stroller tested positive for cocaine.

Concerned for the child's safety he contacted the Minsitry of Children
and Family Development and was informed he had a duty to report the
incident.

"My concern right from the get-go was the child's safety," Leger said
at a press conference in Abbotsford Thursday.

"We have a responsibility to protect children," he
said.

Robertson said after being contacted by ministry officials, Leger's
superiors originally threatened the officer with disciplinary action
for breach of inmate privacy.

Leger said his experience may keep other corrections officers from
reporting to the ministry.

Robertson said the situation is not isolated to B.C., noting a female
visitor at a Quebec prison was caught with 32 grams of heroin after
stashing it in her six-week-old child's clothing.

"We have the opportunity to protect the most vulnerable of society's
members, its children, while stopping sources of drugs in our prison.
Why is there such a resistance within our correctional service?" asked
Robertson.

The problem of using children as drug mules stems from an inconsistent
CSC policy regarding drug scanning and searches, he said.

Policies vary between institutions, as does training of staff on
equipment and searches.

"A visitor can test positive one day and be denied entry, and then
test positive the next and be allowed in. That's the inconsistency we
see," said Robertson.

"We believe anyone with direct contact with an inmate should be
tested," said Robertson, adding that Kent Institution, a maximum
security facility in Agassiz, has a policy of never testing any children.

The union sees these incidents as symptomatic of a larger problem -
CSC's ineffective attempts to stem the rampant drug trade and gang
violence within B.C.'s federal jails.

The reason that prisons are awash in drugs is the visitors doing the
smuggling have little fear of arrest, because those testing positive
during ion scans are rarely reported to police, said Robertson.

"It shouldn't be discretionary - there should be a policy in
place."

"If a visitor consistently tests positive police are rarely contacted.
If they are, police are so busy they are slow to respond and follow
up, and if they do Crown council rarely proceeds with charges."

The union wants the cooperation of the CSC, the police and outside
agencies to stem the drug trade, he said.

"99.9 per cent of the drugs are brought in by visitors or thrown over
the fence," said Robertson, who dismissed the notion that any
significant quantity of drugs is being smuggled in by guards.

"After an inmate social with a hundred people, the week following we
see large seizures of drugs and increased fighting over drugs."

"Matsqui is where a lot of drug dealing takes place. The gangs inside
are the same as those outside - it's a mirror image," Robertson said.

Federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's office issued a
statement, saying Day wrote to Keith Coulter, commissioner of the
correctional service, asking the policy on drug searches be updated.

Day reportedly asked Coulter that policy support the "overarching
priority of deterring drug trafficking into penal institution", and
"the use of children to traffic narcotics into an institution is not
inadvertently encouraged by CSC policy."

In the issued statement Day said, "Our government is determined to
ensure penitentiaries are drug free."

"Keeping drugs out of our institutions is vital for the safety of our
correctional officers and for the rehabilitation of offenders," he
said.

Day made no comments regarding his position on the call for more
consistent policy around drug testing and searches in federal
institutions.

Robertson said recommendations to stem the prison drug trade made in a
recent report by the correctional service review panel should be enacted.

Recommendations include more stringent control measures for visits,
increased drug dog detection teams, more thorough search procedures, a
tighter relationship with police, as well as increased criminal
penalties for those smuggling drugs into jails.

The union said drug throw overs - where people toss illicit goods over
jail walls - could be prevented by putting up netting above prison
walls and using cell phone blockers.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Steve Heath