PRISON VISITORS POSITIVE FOR DRUGS

Insitution turns blind eye to tests showing drug traces on inmate visitors

EDMONTON - The maximum-security prison in Edmonton allows visits to inmates
by people who test positive for significant traces of illegal drugs.

The visits, some of which are held in private, take place in apparent
violation of Correctional Service Canada's zero-tolerance policy on drugs.

Visitors to the Edmonton Institution, as in all Canadian prisons, are
subject to tests from an ion scanner -- called an Itemizer -- which gives
readings for trace amounts of drug residue on their clothes, hands and
identification cards.

Records of visits obtained by The Journal show dozens of people were allowed
into the prison between June and October 2002, despite significant traces
detected of cocaine, heroin, speed, LSD, cannabis and PCP.

Most were allowed only restricted visits, which vary from visits in an area
closely monitored by staff to visits behind glass with no physical contact.
There were, however, open visits and attendance at prison socials allowed,
even private family visits in a trailer.

Numerous documents show that a suspected top drug dealer inside the prison
was allowed private visits with his mother, even though she tested far above
background levels for cocaine, heroin and PCP. Background levels of drugs
are found on paper money.

A staff member at the prison, who can't be named because he would be fired,
said that what goes on in the prison makes a mockery of the Correctional
Service's zero-tolerance policy.

Most drugs in prison are smuggled in, he said. "Management doesn't want to
deal with these problems," he said. "They give and they give .. to inmates
to avoid consequences."

One of the more notorious cases involved a woman allowed into the prison
Oct. 28, 2002, for a private visit in a trailer with her son, who was known
to have an extensive history of drug involvement.

A report done after the inmate's application for the private visit mentioned
information that he had been conspiring with his mother to bring drugs into
the prison, but the visit, which was supported by the inmate's parole
officer, was approved.

The Itemizer readings were high for cocaine, heroin and PCP on her hands,
clothing bag and even the bridge of her glasses.

"The drug dog officer states the positive sit indication displayed by the
canine upon (the woman) is due to the fact that there are illegal narcotics
secreted upon her person and not from her prescribed medication as indicated
from search results," says a review done by Corrections Visitor Review
Board.

"He also states: 'I believe that there exists reasonable grounds to believe
that (the mother) has secreted upon her body illegal narcotics.' "

A guard suspected drugs could have been in her colostomy bag.

A statement by a corrections officer said that the woman tested 10.6 times
the threshold level for cocaine, while a sample of street cocaine that had
been seized in an unrelated case measured 11.

But the warden and deputy warden allowed the private visit in a family
trailers after they were consulted, according to a statement by a
corrections officer.

A corrections officer had recommended the inmate be "dry-celled," meaning he
would be put in a cell without running water so that suspected swallowed
drugs could be recovered once they passed through his body. But the warden
said the traces were confined to some CD cases, and let the inmate to return
to his unit.

As a result of the review, the mother's visits were later scaled back to the
restricted category.

Tim Krause, Prairie spokesman for the correctional service, said the prisons
are doing all they can to keep out drugs. "We have a zero tolerance for
drugs inside our institutions and we have a number of intervention measures
at our disposal to try to keep drugs outside of our institutions."

The ion test is only one factor in the decision to allow a visit. The
information of a high reading is shared with the visitor and can be followed
by a number of options, including restrictions to the visit, a search of the
person and possibly the visitor can be turned away.

"A high reading does not indicate a person is using drugs or might have
drugs on their person," Krause said. "It just indicates a person has come in
touch with drug residue at some point."

ION SCANNER

These devices, which resemble small microwave ovens, can detect trace
amounts of illegal drugs on a visitor's hands and clothing. They take a swab
with a small piece of paper, called a trap. The Itemizer heats and vaporizes
substances in the trap, and then analyses the results. They are usually set
at five times the threshold level of drug residue that would be on money,
most of which has background traces of drugs.

False positive readings from drugs triggered by other substances such as
detergents are possible, but whenever that happens a warning is sent to all
prisons and the machines are reprogrammed to rule out that result.