EVEN WARDENS FACE PRISON SEARCHES

Federal prison staff won't face as much pressure to bring illegal drugs
into their facilities once new search guidelines are enforced nationwide by
month's end, says a Corrections Canada official.

"In some ways it will enhance the ability of staff to enhance their own
security, if they were pressured to bring contraband to the institution in
the past," said Tim Krause, Prairie region spokesman for Corrections Canada.

"Now everyone will know everyone will be searched ... The approach will
treat everybody the same whether you're a visitor, volunteer, corrections
officer or warden arriving for work."

By the end of the month, all staff, visitors and volunteers entering a
Corrections Canada facility will be subject to the same search procedures.

The union representing workers at Corrections Canada facilities said these
new rules will have a big impact on staff.

"They have refused to produce data that shows an increase in unlawful acts
involving staff to support this idea," said Lynn Ray, national president of
the Union of Solicitor General Employees, which represents workers in the
52 federal penitentiaries.

"Because this decision is not supported by any study or research, we know
what will be the most important consequence of this decision - it will
bring mistrust" among the entire staff.

A task force set up to look at security made the recommendation for
nationwide policies because there were too many inconsistencies across the
country. Some facilities used X-ray machines to do searches, while others
did not.

Now, the setup at medium- and maximum-security prisons will be similar to
what people see at airports. There will be X-ray machines and an officer to
conduct searches of bags and other belongings.

At minimum-security institutions, there will be sign-in sheets.

Ray said, in the union's Web site, the collective should have been
consulted more before the guidelines were set up.

Prisons conduct searches to crack down on the amount of drugs that enter
the facilities. And drug use can lead to HIV and hepatitis C infections.

At Edmonton's Institution for Women, the infection rate for AIDS-HIV is
17%, while the infection rate for hepatitis C is 75 %.

In Grande Cache, the federal institution only has an HIV infection rate of
less than half a per cent while the Hep-C rate is about 14%. There are 260
inmates at the facility.

The Bowden Institution, which has 580 inmates, has an HIV infection rate of
2.4% and a Hep-C rate of 21.5%.

At the Drumheller Institution, where there are 635 inmates, the HIV
infection rate is less than half of a per cent while the hepatitis C
infection rate is 29%.

Bob Lytle, with Drumheller's assistant warden services, said he thinks the
numbers are higher for women because they are more at risk since their
prison population is so small compared to the male prison population.

But the warden at the Edmonton women's prison, Janet-Sue Hamilton, said the
numbers are higher for women because more women consent to getting tested
than men.