DRUGS, WEAPONS FLOWING INTO PRISONS

Convicts, Visitors Elude Security Measures

TORONTO - Inmates in Canada's most secure prisons are gaining greater
access to cocaine, homemade brew and a host of deadly weapons that
include explosives, according to a media report on Sunday.

Records obtained under Access to Information detail contraband seized
by the Correctional Service of Canada.

Last year showed a rise in volume of inmate drugs of choice:
marijuana, opiates, tranquilizers and cocaine.

Among the 624 weapons seized over six months last year were zip guns,
explosives, knives, razor blades, pieces of glass, pipes and clubs.

The volume of confiscated cell-made alcohol also rose sharply -- 6,436
litres were seized over six months.

Corrections spokeswoman Michele Pilon-Santilli said strong measures
are taken to stem the tide of dangerous goods in prison.

But convicts and their visitors use creative methods to elude X-rays,
computer scanners, drug dogs and surveillance to smuggle contraband
into jails.

"We have over 12,500 individuals in our institutions who have garnered
themselves a sentence of two years and up," Pilon-Santilli said. "That
means they've done something extremely serious. We don't have princes
and princesses in our institutions."

Explosives can be manufactured by inmates storing up a stash of
sulphur, she said. Often knives and other weapons can be built with
materials pilfered from prison workshops.