MAN FUMBLES DRUG PLOT

Smuggler Tosses Drug-Filled Football Over Prison Wall

It must have been a Hail-mary Jane play.

A drug smuggler threw a football packed with more than $57,000 worth
of marijuana and other drugs over the wall at Collins Bay
Institution, a federal prison in Kingston.

The attempt to toss dope to convicts at the medium-security prison
was foiled early Monday morning by alert staff at a neighbouring
prison who noticed a man lurking around the 10-metre tall stone wall
of Collins Bay. Staff saw the man on a video surveillance monitor.

The Frontenac institution staff followed the man and called police.
Officers arrested the suspect and found the football in an outside
recreation area of the Collins Bay compound, where inmates could have
retrieved it.

The ball had been cut open and filled with 31 packages, including 14
parcels that contained 371 grams of pot, the Whig-Standard learned.
The football was re-sewn after it was loaded with drugs.

Corrections Canada issued a news release about the incident yesterday
after inquiries from the newspaper, but did not respond to requests
for an interview.

According to the release, prison authorities have not yet identified
any inmates involved in the smuggling scheme.

The incident highlights a serious problem with security at medium-and
maximum-security prisons, says the union representing prison security
staff.

"Throw-overs are a major problem for us," Jason Godin, regional
president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers said.

It is the third time in the past 12 months that staff have foiled a
toss-over-the-wall smuggling plot at Collins Bay.

Godin said this incident was interrupted by observant staff, but the
problem persists because none of the four guard towers at the corners
of the perimeter wall of Collins Bay are staffed during the overnight
shift from 11 p. m. to 7 a. m.

"Most of our towers aren't staffed," he said, making it virtually
impossible to stop so-called throw-overs unless staff watching video
monitors happen to notice an incident while it's happening.

During the overnight shift, the only perimeter security at the prison
is a lone officer patrolling outside the wall in a vehicle.

The walls of the institution are fitted with motion detectors and
cameras.

Godin said government cutbacks have eroded staffing levels to the
point that prison bosses can't fill the elevated observation towers
that overlook prison compounds.

Only one observation tower is staffed on the overnight shift at
maximum-security Millhaven Institution, a prison that holds some of
the region's toughest and most dangerous convicts.

At maximum-security Kingston Penitentiary, four guard towers are
staffed around the clock, a change made after an escape from the
prison on May 7, 1999, when Tyrone Conn scaled the east wall at 3 a.
m.

A guard tower at the southeast corner that overlooked the wall was
empty at the time, a practice that had been criticized by union
leaders for years.

Immediately after Conn's escape, the first at KP in roughly 40 years,
guards were put back in the southeast tower.

Godin said the union is hopeful that Ottawa will soon provide more
cash to allow prisons to staff more guard towers.

Security staff in towers are armed with rifles.Their job is to break
up riots or assaults, prevent escapes and watch for smuggling.

In May last year, prison staff saw a man toss a package that
contained half a pound of marijuana over the east wall of Collins
Bay.

The drugs were intercepted but the thrower escaped.

On July 6 last year, two men were caught in the middle of the
afternoon near the east wall of Kingston Penitentiary with a package
that held $44,000 worth of marijuana, methamphetamine, tobacco and
rolling papers.

They planned to throw it over the wall so it would land in an
exercise yard where convicts could retrieve it. They were arrested by
police before they could heave the package.