RELUCTANT DRUG MULE ORDERED TO STAY HOME

A man who said other prisoners coerced him into carrying drugs in jail got
30 days' house arrest yesterday in Dartmouth provincial court.

Brian James Carpenter, 22, was caught with 2.28 grams of marijuana in the
Halifax Correctional Centre on Feb. 1, 2001, along with a note indicating
the drugs were for another inmate.

Carpenter testified yesterday he told Ken Mahoney, the officer in charge of
work placements, he wanted to change jobs.

"I said the other inmates were asking me to pass too much stuff back and
forth," said Carpenter.

Mahoney offered to have him strip-searched in front of other prisoners, so
they wouldn't think he had informed on anyone, said Carpenter. He refused,
out of fear, and a few weeks later guards found the drugs, he said.

After serving 10 days in solitary confinement, he spoke to Mahoney again.

"I said, 'If I have to go to court, I'm going to call on you to testify
that I asked to be transferred,'" he said.

Mahoney said he didn't remember either conversation. If Carpenter had
raised safety concerns, he would have made a report for Carpenter's file,
and there isn't one, he said.

Mahoney said he deals with 2,000 prisoners a year, but knows Carpenter
because he was a student in Mahoney's interpersonal skills course.

"He was a credit to that class," said Mahoney.

In giving house arrest, Judge Bill MacDonald said he took into account
Carpenter's effort to turn his life around, including daily church
attendance, and the credibility of his detailed testimony.

"I think what happened here was Mr. Carpenter made a request for
reassignment, the reasons for which were in his mind, but he didn't
communicate them properly," said MacDonald.