MORE DRUGS SLIP PAST PRISON SECURITY

New Detection Methods Fail To Stem Flow Into Federal Institutions

The importation of illegal drugs into Canadian prisons has increased
over the past five years despite several new programs designed to curb
the flow, an internal government audit shows.

While there were about 850 drug seizures in federal institutions
during the 2001-2002 fiscal year, that number climbed to 1,100 in 2003
and dropped slightly to approximately 1,050 last year.

This, despite the introduction of Ion Mobility Spectrometry devices
(which can detect if people have been handling drugs) at all
institutions, detector dogs and the renewal of the federal
government's National Drug Strategy in 2003.

While the audit notes "general compliance" with interdiction
strategies, it adds "given the National Drug Strategy indicated that
(Correctional Service of Canada) 'will not tolerate drug or alcohol
use or the trafficking of drugs,' there is a need for
improvement."

The partially censored report shows most of the drug seizures were
from inmates' cells and the balance from other areas within federal
institutions. Twenty-seven per cent of inmates selected for random
drug testing either refused to provide a urine sample or failed the
screening.

The statistics show, the audit concludes, "that despite the CSC's
extensive drug interdiction activities, illicit drugs are still
entering institutions."

The audit of the correctional service's interdiction strategy is
critical of many areas, including the department's management of
"human sources" of information about drug activity inside
institutions.

"These human sources may be invaluable for preventing drugs entering
into institutions," the audit says, adding "a number of security
intelligence officers have expressed a need for a policy to provide
firm guidelines on the use and management of human sources."

Direction was found to be lacking in processes for handling of
sources, filing and sharing information and consistency between CSC
and other law enforcement agencies.

Auditors also expressed concern over a potential weak link in the
interdiction strategy -- screening of prison staff.

While a heavily censored section of the report suggests staff members
are routinely searched using X-ray machines, hand-held and
walk-through scanners and manual search methods, several lines of
censored text suggest gaps in the system. Visible text does note that
detector dogs and ion scanners are not consistently used in staff searches.

"The use of these drug interdiction tools on staff would mitigate a
significant risk, while ensuring that CSC is doing everything possible
to consistently detect and deter illicit drugs from entering
institutions," it says.

Meanwhile, some of the tools available to prison staff were being used
improperly or not at all.

Two of the 11 applicable institutions' ion scanners have sat dormant
since December 2005 due to a lack of supplies, while procedures
weren't being followed in other cases.

There's no useful way to track the effectiveness of the machines
anyway, the auditors also found.