Source:   Vancouver Sun
Contact:    Thu 24 Jul 1997

          Thu 24 Jul 1997  The Vancouver Sun  News  A1 / Front

  Guards trafficking drugs to prisoners, insider says: Whistleblower
  fears for his life

    By: Dianne Rinehart

   A prison guard at Fraser Regional Correctional Centre said Wednesday
   an investigation that found correction officers were dealing drugs to
   inmates and providing them with weapons was shut down by the
   government because it was ``too hot to handle.''

   Ronald Leskun headed up a team of three officers at the centre
   assigned to determine how inmates were receiving drugs and how to
   prevent it.

   But Leskun said in an interview that the investigative team was
   disbanded in February, after discovering that prison guards were the
   main source of drugs such as heroin and cocaine.

   Leskun, who is on sick leave because of stress arising from threats
   against his life and those against the two other officers on his team
   and their families, said the director of the centre in Maple Ridge
   closed the investigation under pressure from other guards who believe
   in the unwritten code that they should not snitch on their fellow
   officers.

   ``The staff code is you don't rat on a fellow officer,'' Leskun said.

   And he believes prison director Ron Williams was forced to act because
   other staff threatened to strike over the issue and the government
   didn't want the hassle. ``As far as I'm concerned, it was the staff
   running the jail.''

   No one is questioning whether Leskun's program was successful.

   In one memo, Williams wrote he was ``amazed with the results that have
   been achieved.''

   ``Feedback from inmates and from other centres confirms a drastic
   reduction in the amount of drugs into this centre. Police
   jurisdictions with the province have been very pleased with the
   information that has been gathered and conveyed regarding unsolved
   crime in the community.''

   But Williams notes in that memo that charges against some officers for
   dealing the drugs has caused a split in the staff. Nevertheless, he
   said he takes pride that the centre did not look the other way.

   Questioned by the Liberal party in the legislature, AttorneyGeneral
   Ujjal Dosanjh admitted the program had some successes.

   But in an interview, he defended his ministry's decision to disband
   it. ``I found it had some successes, but it had many problems with
   guards being investigated by guards.''

   Dosanjh said he believes allegations against guards should be
   investigated by police, not by their fellow workers.

   And he said police investigations into the allegations continue.

   The program was disbanded so a new investigative group could be
   created, he said.

   ``Our intention was to retool the program with the lead being given to
   police.''

   Liberal MLA Mike de Jong  who released documents to the media
   Wednesday that support Leskun's story  told the legislature the
   program was disbanded because it found prison guards responsible for
   dealing drugs.

   The government admits two guards were fired for allegedly dealing
   drugs.

   But the head of their union, B.C. Government and Service Employees
   Union president John Shields, is defending the staff who were fired
   and attacking Leskun.

   ``I'm angry at the Liberals for smearing our corrections officers,''
   Shields said in an interview. ``They have relied on a single
   individual . . . . He's a Vietnam vet who is not entirely the same as
   most citizens.''

   Shields said there was not a shred of evidence against the fired
   guards, and police said they did not have enough evidence to arrest
   them.

   But the guards did accept a negotiated settlement that required them
   to give up their jobs, corrections officials said Wednesday.

   Shields said: ``One just got pissed off and left.'' The other received
   a $20,000 settlement.

   Shields said the program was shut down because of Leskun.

   ``In the case of his carrying out his supervisory role, there were
   dozens of allegations of harassmenttype behavior on his part.''
   Shields said.

   But Leskun said the harassment complaints against him were by union
   shop stewards who were harassing him and his staff for breaking the
   code of silence.

   ``They booked off sick saying I would physically assault them because
   I was a former Vietnam war veteran.''

   Since the program was halted, drugs and staff and inmate assaults are
   worse than ever, Leskun said.

   Leskun said one officer is allegedly having drugs delivered to the
   prison by a visitor who leaves them in a garbage can. That officer
   then picks up the drugs and distributes them, he charged.

   Guards can make hundreds of thousands of dollars dealing drugs to
   inmates, he said. The demand is unlimited.

   Meanwhile, Leskun and the other two guards he worked with are the
   subject of death threats.

   He said posters of rats are circulating in the prison with the
   officers' names on them. One officer's car was twice spray painted
   with threats and Leskun said someone left a bullet from a highpowered
   rifle in his office ``as a message.'' The officers' wives are so
   terrified they wrote to Dosanjh, who said he assigned a special
   officer to investigate their complaints.

   Leskun said he is now being transferred against his will to a nearby
   correctional institute at Alouette River. ``The only way to close down
   the program was to get rid of me.''

   And Leskun fears for his safety at Alouette, a prison that he said has
   one of the worst drug records in the province.

   ``They're waiting for me to show up just to get me.''

   Leskun said he was warned he'd be disciplined if he went to the media,
   but said he had to stand up to ensure prison guards are not prevented
   from doing their job.

   ``If the staff feel they are restricted by the rat clause, or not
   supported by the union, inmates will get hurt.

   ``It will grow and someone will get killed.''