OTTAWA TO TAKE AIM AT FLOW OF DRUGS INTO FEDERAL PRISONS

The Conservative government is expected to announce today in B.C.
that it will increase prison security in an effort to restrict the
flow of illicit drugs.

The initiative will include more drug-sniffing dogs, security staff,
scanners and new search rules to detect smugglers visiting the institutions.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day will publicize his plans at a
news conference at Kent Institution in Agassiz, carrying out
recommendations contained in a report last year from a panel that
conducted a sweeping review of the prison system.

The report, released last December, noted that about 80 per cent of
offenders arrive at prison with a serious substance abuse problem,
creating an increasingly dangerous environment for staff and offenders.

"It is not surprising that drug abuse and trafficking is an issue
within the penitentiary walls," said the report.

"The current offender population is one that will look to find every
vulnerability in Correctional Services Canada's security systems to
introduce drugs into the penitentiary."

The Sun reported in January that children -- including infants --
were being used to carry drugs into prisons.

Prison guard union regional president Terry Robertson said at the
time that the illicit drug trade among prisoners was booming. "The
current gang crisis on the streets of Greater Vancouver is part of
the same war for control of the prison drug trade," Robertson said.

"Federal penitentiaries are awash in drugs because the people who
bring drugs to our inmates have little fear of arrest."

Day said then his ministry was already working on reforms. "Keeping
drugs out of our institutions is vital for the safety of our
correctional officers and for the rehabilitation of offenders," he said.

Melisa Leclerc, Day's communications director, said the drug
announcement will include an infusion of millions of dollars, set
aside in the 2008-2009 federal budget to address recommendations
contained in the prison review.

The February budget allotted $122 million over two years, starting
with $12 million this year, to go toward prisons, including money to
fix rotting infrastructure and for drug reduction. But there was no
breakdown of how the money would be spent.

Officials at Springhill Penitentiary in Nova Scotia seized more than
$10,000 in illegal drugs six days ago, including 238 painkillers.

In the past year, there have been reports of drug overdose deaths,
lockdowns and increased gang violence in prisons sparked by drug wars.