PRISON MEETS WITH COMMUNITY

Stony Mountain Penitentiary held a community forum for residents of
Stony Mountain to discuss drug throw-overs and drug smuggling at the
prison and what people in the community can do to help curb the problem.

Roughly 15 people attended the meeting, held at the Stony Mountain
Recreation Centre on Nov. 26, and listened to speakers from both the
prison and the community talk about exactly how drugs and other
contraband, such as cell phones, get into the prison and how the
practice affects the community.

"What you've seen on your front doorsteps is some of our inmates'
attempts to introduce drugs into our institution," explained Lisa
Waddell, Stony Mountain's Assistant Warden of Operations in her
opening remarks to those in attendance. "We have a zero tolerance for
drugs at our institution so we do everything we can to prevent their
introduction... and deal with those who offend in that way."

Waddell said throw-over attempts have decreased steadily at the
prison, thanks in part to a $122-million commitment from the federal
government over two years to make improvements with Corrections
Services Canada, including an attempt to eradicate the drug trade in
federal prisons.

"We've expanded our drug detector program, so locally we're resourced
for an extra drug dog team for example, which will help us cover...
more area in terms of interception," she explained. "We're also
increasing are security intelligence capacity... we're going to more
than double the numbers of (security officers) we employ by 2013."

Waddell also noted an extra patrol vehicle and improved lighting has
been added around the prison's perimeter, and improvements have been
made to stop visitors to the prison from smuggling in contraband.

"We're tracking visitors nationally across the country and we're
ensuring that we have the resources at our front entrance to ensure
that we're not having drugs introduced in that way," she said.

Despite the improvements, Waddell acknowledged that roughly 80 per
cent of the inmate population at Stony Mountain enters the institution
with substance abuse problems, providing a lucrative market for
illegal organizations - with drugs fetching as much as 10 times their
street value within the prison walls.

Mike Brugger, a Security Intelligence Officer with the prison, said
the promise of a big payout for successful drug throw-overs means many
people still try the practice. He outlined exactly how the criminals
are trying to get drugs over the fence.

"A throw-over usually involves two or more persons, who drive into the
community and throw a package into the institutional property," he
explained, adding the packages can be worth anywhere between
$700-$10,000 once inside the jail. "The activity is detrimental to the
safety of the community and the person because... they'll often
trespass on private property and may depart the area at a high rate of
speed in order to allude detection or capture."

Brugger encourages people who live in Stonewall to call the
institution any time they see a suspicious vehicle or person around
the prison or on their property.

"Persons in the community can be vigilant if there's suspicious
activity around the institution such as persons on foot or in
vehicles, especially during time of inmate activity," he said.

To report suspicious activity while it's happening, call Stony
Mountain's tip line at 344-7132, or to report any information on
smuggling activity call their drug tip line at 344-6000. Members of
the community are also asked to call the Stonewall RCMP detachment
about any suspicious behaviour around the prison at 467-5015.