GANG WARS HIT B.C. PRISONS

Exclusive: A Battle To Control The Convict Drug Trade Led To A String Of
Attacks In Recent Days And The Lockdown Of Two Prisons In The Fraser Valley

Two Fraser Valley prisons are locked down after a series of
convict-on-convict assaults this week that guards say is linked to
control of the drug trade inside the institutions.

Security staff at Mountain Institution in Agassiz and Matsqui
Institution in Abbotsford are now doing cell-by-cell searches looking
for contraband, and have already found weapons and drugs, Correctional
Service of Canada spokesman Dave Lefebvre confirmed Friday.

Lefebvre said there have been six assaults at Matsqui in the past
week, sparking the current lockdown, while Mountain had an assault in
the prison gym Thursday night, though the injuries to the prisoner are
not life-threatening.

The Vancouver Sun has learned that most of the assaults have been
stabbings, often between old-time prisoners and younger gangsters who
want to flex their muscles.

The violence is troubling to the Union of Canadian Correctional
Officers, which represents guards at the federal institutions.

The union's regional president, Gord Robertson, said the escalation in
incidents -- particularly at Matsqui -- is for control of the drug
trade in the medium-security prison.

"That is why these stabbings are taking place -- control of the drug
trade inside the prisons," Robertson said.

"The same type of issues you see on the street outside, you see inside
- -- the assaults and the drug trade. It is exactly the same; there is
just more money involved because it is more difficult for them to get
the drugs inside."

Robertson said there is a changing demographic as more young gang
members affiliated with groups like the United Nations get sentenced
to federal time.

"We are seeing a lot more young inmates coming in with those kind of
gang affiliations. There has always been the drug problem in prisons,
but now it seems there is a real battle between the younger punk-type
inmates and the older ones who have been in for a while."

The new breed of inmate "is so dangerous because they really don't
care," Robertson said.

"Fine for them to battle it out with each other like they are doing in
the prisons now, but somebody is going to get hurt in the crossfire
and that is going to happen to our union members. We are going to get
caught in the middle of a drug dispute and one of our people will get
stabbed or killed," he said. "If we respond to a situation, we have to
help the inmate. We have to do what we can to prevent death or
grievous bodily harm, but in the process it is very dangerous."

In addition to the recent assaults at Mountain and Matsqui, Robertson
said there have been seven stabbings since September at Kent, a
maximum-security prison adjacent to Mountain.

"They also had a staff assault on New Year's Eve, so the violence
there is the same thing," Robertson said.

He said prison staff do not have the resources to handle the
increasing violence. They have yet to receive stab-resistant vests,
promised for more than a year, and are not allowed to carry pepper
spray.

Robertson said inmates have been caught with cellphones, which are
being used to contact their suppliers outside the prison walls, who
then throw contraband -- drugs in tennis balls and cellphones -- over
the fence as soon as patrol vehicles pass.

Two easy fixes would be the erection of mesh fences, similar to those
at driving ranges, and cellphone scramblers that would prevent illegal
communication with the outside, he said.

Lefebvre said the motives of the assaults this week are under
investigation and it is too early to say if they are connected to drug
trafficking inside.

During the ongoing search of Matsqui, security staff have already
found "some sharp-edged weapons, homemade brew, significant amounts of
steroids, syringes and two balaclavas," he said.

"They are looking into whether there is any connection between the
assaults. But at this point they are just looking into the assaults to
see what happened."

Both prisons are expected to be locked down for several more
days.

The B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union, which represents
guards at provincial jails, also expressed concern last month about
the potential for increased violence due to overcrowding.

The union said conditions at the North Fraser Pretrial Centre are so
overcrowded that inmates are sleeping on the floor in the records
department, creating a "pressure cooker" that could erupt in violence.

The jail was built in 1999 for 300 inmates, but now houses upwards of
650.

High-profile gangster Omid Tahvili walked out of the institution last
November, allegedly with the help of a guard who is now facing charges.

Tahvili was sentenced in absentia this week to six years in jail for a
brutal gangland kidnapping and sex assault.