PRISONERS SAYING NO TO DRUGS

They Tolerate Surveillance To Live In Cleaner Environment

When it comes to prison inmates with substance-abuse problems, Eric Lacasse
falls right in with the majority.

About three in four federal inmates have a drug-or alcohol-abuse problem
upon admission, statistics show. And like slightly more than 50 per cent of
inmates, Lacasse, 27, was intoxicated when he committed the crime -
manslaughter - that he's serving time for.

So it might seem strange that Lacasse of all people would volunteer to live
in a separate part of the prison where he'd be subjected to extra cell
searches and urine tests and where inmates from other parts of the prison
would be barred from visiting him.

But Lacasse has quit drugs and is determined to stay clean. So when offered
the opportunity to live in one of Cowansville's new Intensive Support Units
- - the so-called drug-free units opened in March - Lacasse grabbed it.

"Some (inmates) said, 'I'm already in a prison. I'm not going to go into
another one,' " Lacasse said in an interview in his cell at the
medium-security institution, where he is serving a 14-year term for killing
a taxi-driver.

"But for others who are determined to succeed, it made sense," he said.

"At least we'd be in an environment where there are no drugs," said
Lacasse, who was high on alcohol and cocaine when he beat up his victim.

He actually looks forward to the urine tests, Lacasse said. Each time they
come back negative, he pats himself on the back: "I tell myself (it's)
another month that I haven't used," he said.

What's more, the atmosphere is much calmer, which makes it easier for
inmates to work on self improvement, Lacasse said.

He plans to start school in September - something he wouldn't have even
considered were he still in a regular unit, he said. With all the noise and
rowdiness, he wouldn't have been able to concentrate on studying, he said.

"I can sit at my desk with the door open and no one will be playing loud
music," he said. "In the other units, there's a total lack of respect."

The concept of Intensive Support Units, or ISUs, is one that Correctional
Service of Canada borrowed. Following the lead of Britain and the
Netherlands, it introduced them as a pilot project in five prisons starting
in 2000.

The results were encouraging, and last year Correctional Service decided to
have them in all of its prisons, said Andrea Moser, the department's
national drug-strategy co-ordinator.

Today, ISUs account for 1,100 beds out of an inmate population of about
13,000, Moser said.

But that number is certain to grow as ISUs are introduced into women's
prisons over the next year and men's institutions add new ISU beds.

The maximum-security Donnaconna Institution near Quebec City, for instance,
now has 20 ISU beds, but hopes to add more by September.

And just this week Drummond Institution in Drummondville opened a second
unit of 20 beds in an effort to keep up with demand, deputy warden Linda
Boily said.

Leclerc Institution in Laval recently added 26 new ISU beds, bringing its
total to 59, unit manager Robert Massie said.

Cowansville, which has two ISUs with a total of 34 beds, plans to open
another unit with about 17 beds by the end of this year, said Manon Bisson,
a unit manager at that institution.

The main aim is to offer inmates with a substance-abuse problem an
environment free from the pressures to use alcohol or drugs.

But for a minority, substance abuse was never an issue: they just want to
stay far removed from the prison drug culture, Moser said.

Inmates have to apply to get on to an ISU, and inmates suspected of
trafficking are refused.

Consent Form

Participants sign a consent form agreeing to the stricter security
measures, to comply with federal legislation and human-rights
considerations, Moser said.

Under Corrections Canada's regular random drug-screening program, about 5
per cent of inmates outside of ISUs are tested each month, so an inmate can
easily go for months without ever being tested, Moser said.

In some ISUs, inmates are tested as often as four times monthly.

An inmate who fails a check is kicked off the unit for a minimum of 30
days, although he can apply to be readmitted after that.

And many do.

Of six inmates kicked out of Cowansville's two units since they opened last
March, one has already applied to be readmitted, unit manager Bisson said.

If the experience of Alberta's Drumheller Institution is any indicator,
others will surely do the same.

At Drumheller, one of the original pilot sites, about two dozen inmates
have been kicked off an ISU since ISUs started there 21/2 years ago, said
associate warden Ron Boutin.

"All but one has returned, and out of those, we've never caught one a
second time," Boutin said.

Astounding Success

"It's really an incredible thing. There's nothing like it. It's had
astounding success," he said of the ISUs.

At Drumheller, inmates have already persuaded authorities to turn seven of
their nine minimum-security houses into ISUs, and inmates in an eighth
house are asking for the same thing, Boutin said.

"What the inmates tell us happened is that the whole environment became
more supportive to be clean," he said.

Before, even if an inmate was caught with a positive urine test, he'd still
deny that he had a problem.

With the ISUs, that all changed, Boutin said.

"They'd say, 'Yeah, I've got a problem,' and then you could work with them."