PAROLEES USE FAKE PENISES FOR TESTS

TORONTO -- Drug-addicted federal parolees are using fake penises and
laboratory-cleansed urine to cheat random urinalysis tests, the Toronto Sun
reported yesterday. While parole officials are always on the lookout for
cheats, the first fake penis kit seizure was made in the Toronto area last
week.

It is believed the convicts who bought the kit from their California-based
suppliers may have loaned it to others.

The kits are worn around the waist and join a prosthetic penis to a pouch
of battery-warmed reconstituted urine concentrate.

Correctional Service Canada reacted quickly when a parole official
discovered someone using the kit and asked the service's lawyers to look at
alternative policies and procedures.

"We will have to develop appropriate protocols to screen for this device,"
said Joe Beatty, Correctional Service Canada spokesman. "It's like having
to develop a new mousetrap... there seems to be a very significant market
for (the kit)."

In recent years, the service has placed an emphasis on releasing convicts
to halfway houses, placing strict conditions that they avoid alcohol and drugs.

Parolees who fail a urinalysis test have their parole revoked and are
typically sent back to prison.

Employees at a west-end Toronto distributor of one of the kits, called the
Urinator, would not comment on the seizure.