DRUG-FREE PRISON PROGRAM 'KIND OF IRONIC'

Inmates Abstaining From Illegal Activity Can Live In 'Clean' Unit

Federal corrections authorities have been setting up a string of drug-free
living units in their prisons, a program one critic called "ironic" because
prisons are already supposed to be clear of narcotics.

Inmates volunteer to be part of the units and sign contracts agreeing to
abstain and submit to regular searches and drug tests -- measures which
would be considered unconstitutional if they were forced on the general
population.

In exchange, the inmates escape an environment where illegal drug and
alcohol use can lead to violence, intimidation and general disorder.

"A 'brew party' can easily spark aggressive and erratic behaviour with ugly
consequences," says an article in a Correctional Service of Canada newsletter.

Seven prisons have the units, and the goal is to put them in every
institution. Corrections calls the program a major step in trying to
eliminate drug use behind bars by helping inmates stay clean after they
have gone through addiction treatment programs.

Others disagree. One prison guard representative says the units underline
the failure of penitentiary authorities to keep out substances ranging from
marijuana to heroin.

"It's kind of ironic," Neil MacLean, an official with the Union of Canadian
Correctional Officers in British Columbia, said of the initiative. "We have
a drug-free system, zero tolerance toward drugs [in the whole prison], and
yet drugs are rampant."

While prisons use "ion detectors" to check visitors for traces of
narcotics, those who test positive are sometimes allowed inside anyway, he
charged.

As well, there aren't enough drug-sniffing dogs, and visitors are allowed
too much contact with inmates, giving them ample opportunity to pass on
drugs, said Mr. MacLean, a correctional officer at maximum-security Kent
Institution.

Wives, girlfriends and others are often allowed to hug and kiss prisoners,
contravening regulations, he said.

Inmates sometimes get the contraband back to their cells by "suitcasing" --
secreting the loot in their rectums -- or by swallowing a packet of drugs
with a length of dental floss attached. They clench the end of the dental
floss in their teeth, then fish out the package when the coast is clear,
Mr. MacLean said.

"The problem is that calling the [new units] drug-free implies the rest of
them are drug-filled ... but it's not like we're not working to clean up
all the units," said Chris Whitty, a unit manager at Grand Cache
Institution, a minimum-security jail in Alberta. "Inmates are inmates and
they'll really try very hard to get their fix.... It's a sorry fact of life."

He said it would be difficult to implement the same approach in the rest of
the prison.

The law allows officers to carry out only some random searches in the
general population and targeted searches when there is evidence that
someone has been using drugs, Mr. Whitty said.

Michele Pilon-Santilli, a Corrections spokeswoman, said it would be "very
unrealistic" to think it possible to make entire prisons drug-free.

She said 80% of offenders enter prison with a substance-abuse problem, and
institutions receive as many as 1,000 visitors a week.

The drug-free units consist usually of one "range" of the penitentiary,
holding 30 to 40 prisoners.

The goal in Grand Cache is to subject them at least four times a month to
one of several drug-detecting tools, such as sniffer dogs, ion detectors
and instant urinalysis kits.

Those who are found to have used drugs are kicked out of the special range,
Mr. Whitty said. At Grand Cache, few inmates have flunked the program so
far, he said.

Mr. MacLean said Kent, in B.C., was unable to start a drug-free unit for
the prison's general population because the few inmates inclined to
volunteer were bullied into keeping quiet.

Instead, it is implementing a unit for the protective-custody population --
sex offenders and others who need protection from fellow inmates.