FEDS POISED TO CRACK DOWN ON PRISON DRUG TRADE

Sniffer Dogs, Security Guards To Battle Behind-Bars Narcotics
Smuggling

Organized crime may be about to lose its grip on one of its most
profitable markets as the Harper government moves to put an end to
drug smuggling into penitentiaries.

In this war on drugs -- including marijuana -- the federal government
will spend $120 million over the next four years to hire 80 teams of
drug-sniffing dogs and 165 security intelligence officers.

It also has replaced or installed 30 X-ray machines and scanners at
federal prisons. The government also plans to put extra staff on
towers to stop drugs from being thrown over fences and walls into
Canada's prisons, said Public Safety Canada spokeswoman Jacinthe Perras.

The illicit drug trade in Canada's prisons is rarely heard about on
the outside, but an internal security report provides a window into
its workings.

Some inmates use their court appearances as occasions to act as drug
mules. On the day of their sentencing, some convicted criminals place
the drugs inside their bodies, pre-measured and placed in specific
coloured balloons or condoms. Inside the prison, the dealers retrieve,
check and weigh the drug packages. If a mule is believed to have
tampered with a drug package, the punishment can be deadly, the report
notes.

The drugs -- everything from pot and hashish to pills and cocaine --
are then repackaged for sale. The mules hardly ever distribute the
drugs, and in many cases, the drugs they smuggle are owned by another
inmate. Other inmates are hired to distribute the drugs.

In the prison drug trade, credit is rare; drugs are almost always paid
for at the point of sale. The sellers are accountable for any
shortages of product or of money, according to one longtime prison
intelligence officer. Punishment for skimming is swift and vicious,
the officer explains in the security report.

Drugs can be paid for in cigarettes, cash or funds deposited in bank
accounts held by the dealer's associates on the street. The dealer
assigns a specific amount to each customer so he knows when the sale
is completed. For example, one inmate will be told to have an
associate deposit $100.04 into the account. Another would be assigned
a different price.

There are other ways to get drugs into prison. Some inmates insert
pills and hash into the soles of specialized shoes ordered by
prisoners with foot problems.

Another method involves cutting open tennis balls and filling them
with hashish. In this less-sophisticated operation, younger criminal
associates are hired to throw the balls into prison yards without
attracting the attention of guards. Then, the "outside gang" --
prisoners who work on the prison grounds -- retrieve the product and
smuggle it inside for money or drugs.

Since federal penitentiaries banned smoking in April 2008, the demand
for drugs has increased dramatically. The cost of a gram of pot or
hash inside prison is at least five times the price outside.