LISTER DENIES THAT WESTGATE JAIL IS 'OPEN HOUSE FOR ILLICIT DRUGS'

DRUGS are flowing freely into Westgate via visitors, delivery vans, over the
boundary wall and even with the co-operation of some prison officers, the
Mid-Ocean News has been told by a source inside the prison.

The source described the prison as "an open house" as far as illegal
substances were concerned and said the problem was markedly worse at the
Prison Farm.

Inmates enrolled in the facility's detoxification programme were finding it
doubly difficult to wean themselves off drugs because of the constant
availability of illegal substances, added the source.

Morale was low among prison staff, the source claimed, and there seemed
little will from administrators to tackle the chronic problem of the influx
of drugs.

But that version of affairs was vigorously denied yesterday by both Labour &
Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister and Prison Officers Association (POA)
spokesman Russ Ford.

Mr. Lister said he simply did not accept it was the case that there was a
significant problem with drug importation into the prisons and said ion
scanner, dog team and urine tests provided little evidence of a significant
drugs problem in prison.

"We would be naive in the extreme were we to assert that there are no
illicit drugs reaching our correctional facilities," conceded Mr. Lister.
"However, we are satisfied that the problem is not widescale."

His statement appears in full on Page 3.

Mr. Ford sent statistics to the Mid-Ocean News, showing details of drug
tests carried out at Westgate.

They showed that on admission to Westgate, more than half of prisoners
tested positive for marijuana, cocaine or heroin. But of 311 random tests on
inmates carried out between January and June this year, 14 tested positive
for marijuana, six for heroin and seven for cocaine.

Mr. Ford said: "If there was a serious drugs problem at Westgate I would say
so.

"The POA under no circumstances condones the bringing of drugs or drugs
paraphernalia into correctional facilities. Any of our staff caught doing
this would not be supported by the association."

Our source claimed: "It's an open house. Any prisoner who wants any
substance can get it, if they've got the money.

"From what I've been told, most of the drugs come in through deliveries and
visitors. When vans come in to bring food, the contents are seldom checked.
Sometimes they throw drugs over the wall.

"People just seem to turn a blind eye to it. Morale is low at the prison and
people just don't seem to care. I care and I wouldn't be talking to you now
if I didn't care."

The problem of drugs at Westgate has been well documented in recent years. A
survey carried out between February and October of last year, commissioned
by Work Inc. and conducted by Profiles of Bermuda, showed that 45 per cent
of inmates had used drugs within the past six months, ten per cent within
the last week and 7.5 per cent within the last 24 hours.

In 1997, the police and prison services prepared a report looking into the
drugs problem. Although the report was not made public, a Royal Gazette
report last August claimed that a dozen prison officers had been named in
the report as smuggling suspects.

But Mr. Ford said since new legislation had given the prison the means to
test for drugs since December 14 last year, the results had been
encouraging, with finds from dog teams "minimal".

"It's a given that six out of ten will test positive at the time they are
admitted," Mr. Ford said. "But our urine test results have shown that out of
every ten persons, only about 1.5 are coming back positive.

"Every month a minimum of ten per cent of the prison population are tested
for drugs on a random basis.

"It's a fact that chemically dependent people will go to whatever means they
can to get their drug of choice. And there are persons who come in for
trafficking of drugs and who's to say that person's going to stop?"

Minister Lister has vowed to clamp down on the problem. Ion scanners, drug
testing of inmates and sniffer-dog raids on cells have all been employed.

Our source said inmates were sometimes tipped off in advance about when
raids were scheduled to take place.

"They should be checking cells every day, they should be random drug testing
every day," said the source. "Sometimes they have a bust, but the thing is,
everyone seems to know when it's going to happen. I've heard them say,
'Rumour has it, there's going to be a bust today'. Then the bust happens.
It's clear that someone is tipping them off."

Even when an inmate tested positive for drugs, adequate punishments had not
followed.

"If the Government really does have on their agenda tackling the drug
problem, I've got to say their approach is very weak," said the source.
"Officers and administrators should be regularly randomly tested as well as
prisoners.

"Inmates know who's on duty and who's off and who's going to be too lazy to
check up on them. When they are caught with drugs, I've never heard of one
case when there have been severe repercussions.

"About 80 percent of inmates have had drug problems before they arrive at
Westgate. There is a programme designed to try and wean them off drugs.

"That process would be much more successful if there weren't so many drugs
coming into the prison. Something needs to be done. Not enough attention is
being paid to this issue."

Mr. Ford said while random testing of officers was not being carried out,
some officers who had been under suspicion of involvement in drug smuggling
had volunteered to be tested to dispel the rumours.

And he added that the situation was improving and gave credit to Government.

"For years we did not have ion scanners and the means to test randomly," Mr.
Ford said. "The Government has listened and supported us. The Minister has
been keen to ensure zero tolerance of drugs coming into prison and we are
grateful for his support."

With a lower level of security, drugs came into the Prison Farm more easily
than Westgate and consequently some inmates dreaded being sent there as they
would be exposed to temptation.

Mr. Lister said last year that inmates returning to Westgate from the farm
would not be drug tested, but they would go through the ion scanner to
ensure they were not importing substances into the prison.

"To nail him for using would be almost unfair because he's surrounded," said
Mr. Lister at the time. "But there will be zero tolerance for dealing or
importing into the prison for others or for himself."

Our source said: "At the Prison Farm, the drug situation is even worse than
Westgate. There are guys who do not want to go to the Prison Farm because
there are so many drugs there. They beg not to be sent there.

"You have to understand that some of these guys are long-time drug users.
Some of them say they used to shoot heroin or smoke with their parents, from
as young as 11 or 12.

"One guy said to me, 'The only thing I had in common with my old man was
shooting heroin and smoking weed'. It's really sad when you hear that kind
of thing and it shows how serious this problem is for Bermuda.

"The criminal issue is a reflection of the real problem, which is drug
addiction. That is why there is such a high recidivism rate, because there
is nowhere for them to go after prison.

"There needs to be a transitional home where they can stay for two years or
more and be monitored, where drug testing is mandatory. Otherwise they go
straight out of Westgate and back into a tarnished environment.

"They say, 'As soon as I go back, I'll be asked to sell drugs'. Surely it
would be better for them to come out and go into a structured environment."

An inquest into the death of Steven Mansfield (Pepe) Dill, an inmate who
died after an asthma attack at the Prison Farm, revealed evidence of drugs
in prison.

A report by forensic pathologist Dr. John Obafunwa stated that there were
traces of heroin and prescription drugs in Mr. Dill's body. And Dr. Obafunwa
said multiple drug abuse could have been a factor in his death.

In July last year, another inmate, 41-year-old Rupert Elroy Archibald, died
of a heart attack at Westgate. Sources inside the prison claimed that his
death was connected to drugs.

An autopsy was carried out and Mr. Lister ordered an inquiry. Police
announced this week that there would be no inquest, as the autopsy had
revealed that Mr. Archibald died of natural causes.