DRUG-TRADE WAR LOOMING, OFFICERS SAY

Prison Gangs Vie to Control Dope

A battle among inmates for control of Stony Mountain Institution's drug
trade is brewing, says a corrections officer at the prison. The Native
Syndicate street gang has nearly 100 members behind bars, fuelling fears
that a war with rival Indian Posse members for control of the prison's drug
trade could be in the offing.

"They now have the numbers to take over, which could mean an all-out gang
war to achieve their goal," said the guard, who asked that he not be named
for fear of reprisal.

The Indian Posse had control of the drug trade and other illegal activities
until this summer, when several members attacked an opposing gang-banger.

POSSE SEGREGATED

The attack prompted prison officials to segregate much of the Indian Posse
from the general prison population, but that has only made the problem
worse, the guard claimed.

"What management fails to understand is that the remaining gangs in the
general population saw that as a chance to take over the Indian Posse's
share of the institutional drug trade," he said. "The Native Syndicate
began to do just that and forced the remaining Indian Posse members -- as
well as new offenders -- to join their gang."

The problem isn't any worse than it's ever been at the prison, said
assistant warden Gunnar Ivans.

"There are always different groups in the penitentiary who are trying to
recruit members in different ways," he said yesterday. "We don't believe
it's different than at any other time."

Since gang members cause most of the problems behind prison walls, they
should be segregated from the general population, said Kevin Grabowsky,
regional spokesman for the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers. That
would be counter-productive, said Ivans, because it would penalize some
inmates regardless of their behaviour.