DRUG-SNIFFING DOG TO HELP ROOT OUT DRUG ABUSE IN ALBERTA
JAILS

Pilot project designed to help control problem at province's eight
correctional facilities

All stakeholders agree a drug-detecting dog will help officials
mitigate substance abuse in Alberta's correctional facilities. But
not all agree on the scale of drug abuse in jails.

"I want to stress that we do not have a large problem with drugs
being smuggled into our correctional centres, Solicitor General
Ministry spokesman Jill McCormick said Wednesday.

The ministry on Wednesday unveiled a one-year, $80,000 pilot project
for a Labrador retriever and handler to circulate among Alberta's
eight correctional facilities sniffing out drug use among the
province's roughly 2,600 inmates.

"It is a lot of facilities for one dog to cover," McCormick conceded.
If successful, the ministry could hire a second dog and handler in a year.

Eight people have died from drug overdoses in jails since 1981, the
ministry's statistics indicate.

Locally, Southern Alcare Manor (SAM) and Parkside Homes both house
addicts who are transitioning from prison to outside life. The
facility has up to six beds in its 25-bed facility for inmate use,
SAM executive director Ron Fromm explained.

"There's definitely a (drug) problem in the prisons, no question
about that," Fromm says. "Drugs are smuggled into prison all the time
in various ways."

As Alberta Union of Public Employees' Lethbridge union
representative, Dale Perry deals directly with front-line workers in
Alberta's prisons. Perry estimates 65 to 70 per cent of problems jail
guards deal with are drug related.

"Whether that be gang activity within the facility over the
administration of the drug or problems caused by people on them . . .
you have both sides of that. You have the occasional beating when the
guy hasn't paid his debts," Perry said.

Corrections officials have been contracting out drug-sniffing dogs in
Alberta facilities for three years, McCormick said. Upon admission,
inmates are searched for drugs and provide urine samples. In
addition, one per cent of a facility's population is randomly
selected each week for drug testing, while inmates suspected of using
can be targeted any time. Inmates busted with drugs can lose time off
their sentences which had been earned for good behaviour.

During 77 inmate searches of jail inmates last year, only "a small
amount" of narcotics was uncovered, McCormick said.

In Lethbridge, one inmate died of a drug overdose in April 2005.
Jeffery Allen Arishenkoff, 26, is facing manslaughter charges for
allegedly providing methadone to Dennis Karey, who died suddenly in
his cell April 30, 2005.

"No screening process has proven 100 per cent effective, but this is
another tool in our drug strategy to make sure that our centres are
as drug-free as possible," McCormick said.

The Labrador named Chaz and correctional officer Shaun McCoy
completed six weeks of training with Calgary Police Service. The dog
is trained to detect 10 scents including marijuana, crystal meth,
cocaine, heroin and ecstasy.

Based out of Fort Saskatchewan, Chaz and McCoy will make random
visits to correctional facilities and roam cells, common areas and
preside over some inmate admissions, McCormick indicated.