INNOCENT GRANDMOTHER'S 12 DAYS IN WINNIPEG JAIL

Minnesota grandmother Janet Goodin crossed the border to play bingo
and ended up in a Winnipeg jail for 12 days, after a forgotten jar of
motor oil in her van mistakenly tested positive for heroin. The
66-year-old widow and retired Girl Scout administrator from Warroad,
Minn., was questioned, strip-searched and jailed until officials
discovered the error and released her. "This was so out of context and
so preposterous that it's just literally turned my life upside down,"
she told the Post's Sarah Boesveld by phone from her quiet trailer
home about six kilometres from the border. "It was so surreal." The
Canada Border Services Agency said Tuesday officials at the Sprague
border followed protocol, but Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he
has requested a "full report" on Ms. Goodin's detention from the
agency's president. While sitting in the Winnipeg Remand Centre, Ms.
Gooding began chronicling her ordeal in what would become a nearly
4,000-word journal entry, which she shared with the Winnipeg Free Press.
Here is the entry, edited for length and clarity by the Post:

SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2011

I woke up again this morning aware of a constant gnawing anxiety -- my
constant accompaniment all day, every day. I open my eyes. I am in
jail. IN JAIL!

My nightmare began about 10 days ago, April 20, on a pleasant
Wednesday evening. About 5 p.m. I got a text message from my daughter,
who lives just across the border in Canada. She was asking if I wanted
to go with her and her sisters to play bingo in Sprague, MB, 7 p.m. I
had to decide quickly; I hadn't had dinner yet, and was hungry, but
then I thought there would probably be snacks available at Bingo, so I
texted her that I would leave right away.

When I arrived there, I presented my pass card as usual and was
questioned as usual. I expected to be searched as they almost always
do when I bring household items across the border. As I stood and
watched, they pulled out a small canning jar of what I assumed to be
motor oil left over from an oil change. I thought probably they were
going to dump it out or just confiscate it because the jar was not
labelled.

While waiting, one of the agents came up to the counter and told me
they needed to talk to me in the back room. One of the female agents
said that they tested the "substance" in the canning jar and it tested
positive for something. I asked her to repeat herself. This time I
understood her to say that the oil in the jar tested positive for some
substance which indicated the presence of HEROIN!

Thus, my nightmare began. The border agent informed me that I was
going to be arrested for possession, with intent to distribute, of a
controlled substance. They refused to let me call my daughter. They
handcuffed me, and the rest of the night is a nightmarish blur of
being interrogated several times by different people, the utter
humiliation of a strip search, and long periods of sitting alone in
that little room. I then spoke to a legal aid lawyer, who advised me,
that even though I had done nothing wrong, I should simply refuse to
answer their questions. Quite a long while later, one of the female
agents came in and told me that a drug sniffing dog had found traces
of marijuana, meth, cocaine, and "many other drugs" in the van. My
lawyer later told me that they had found absolutely no traces of any
drugs in the van.

Later, one of the women told me they had tested the oil five times and
it came back positive every time for whatever substance they said it
was.

I was told I would be spending the evening in jail in Steinbach, MB
and that I would be officially charged in the morning. I was put in a
cell alone, my glasses taken away from me. I lay on the bench in the
cell all night and tried to doze now and then, but I was constantly
shivering. I tried yoga breathing to keep myself from falling apart,
and was somewhat able to collect myself by morning. They let me call
my daughter and she said her husband remembered putting the oil in one
of the cubbies in my van. Mid-afternoon, I was formally charged with
the three offences and interrogated again. A short time later, the
officer from Sprague said the "Crown" had decided to add two more
charges against me: trafficking and importing of a controlled
substance. I couldn't believe they would actually mistake me for a
drug smuggler.

The justice officer recommended "no bail" because I was a U.S. citizen
and that I probably would not come back for court. He also said that
the charges could result in a 2+ year prison sentence. I had to wait
in jail all weekend until a bail hearing before a judge the following
Tuesday. I was terrified of going to jail. I had been looking forward
to spending the Easter holiday with my children and
grandchildren.

MONDAY, MAY 2

The days have all been pretty much running together. During the day,
we are to have every other hour out in the common area, unless it is
mealtime or medication time. It is canteen delivery day, and many of
us are eagerly waiting to get the snacks and toiletries that we have
ordered. We have a third cellmate again. A young girl came in shortly
after dinner time. She was hungry and seemed to be exhausted. She
asked for my orange, and I also gave her a bag of chips.

TUESDAY, MAY 3

My granddaughter's birthday. My daughter is coming to visit at 7 p.m.
She is bringing denture cleaning tablets. I have not been able to
properly clean my dentures since I got here. The girl that came in
yesterday is going home today, along with one of the other girls. I
wonder if and when I will ever get to be with my family again. This
afternoon, I finally spoke with the consulate and said I wanted the
results of the analysis that was being done by the RCMP on the motor
oil.

ADDENDUM TO MAY 3

About 6:30 p.m., some of the other girls came to our cell and said I
was being released, and started to roll up my bedding, but I didn't
believe it. I rode the elevator down to the main floor where two
officers were waiting for me. They gave me my clothes and money back
and we left in a car bound for Sprague. The RCMP officer who was
driving said they got the tests back, and that all of the charges were
"stayed." The officers seemed quite solicitous of my welfare, offering
to get me food and or coffee or some other drink, and frequently
asking if I was "all right." I felt vindicated, but very, very angry
about what had been done to me, for no reason other than a jar of
common motor oil.