PRISONS AND DRUGS

If there is one place that should have a zero tolerance approach to drugs,
it would be a prison.

Yet the stories emanating from Westgate and the Prison Farm suggest just
the opposite; the importation and use of drugs behind bars are part of
everyday life.

It would also appear that prison officers are condoning, if not conniving
in, the importation of drugs; how else can the problem be so large? Home
Affairs Minister Terry Lister has stated that inmates at Westgate will be
tested for drugs and inmates at the Prison Farm will be searched. That's a
good start, but does not go far enough. Prison Farm inmates are privileged
to be there instead of at Westgate. They are allowed to go out on work
release. They have more freedom and are subject to less security when they
are in the Prison Farm. They are given trust by the authorities to obey the
rules of the institution and to work towards their rehabilitation.

If they breach that trust, and using drugs, whether within the prison or
outside, they should lose the privileges they have gained. That means that
they should be searched for drugs on their return to the Prison Farm. But
they should also be tested for drug use. Indeed, given the high correlation
between drugs and crime in Bermuda, testing should be par for the course.
How else can you tell if an inmate is still using?

At Westgate, the issue is simpler since the inmates have fewer rights to
"go outside" and Government already plans to test them. But all visitors to
the prison, regardless of who they are should be searched for drugs and
other illegal items. The flow of drugs into the prison should be stopped by
any means possible.

That means that prison officers should be searched when they come on duty
too. It is nearly impossible that officers are not in some way connected
with the drugs court. They need to be above suspicion and searching is the
only way top ensure that.

They should be tested for drugs as well. They are entrusted with the care
of people who have broken the law and are being punished for having done
so. So prison officers have to uphold the laws too. It would be
hypocritical for a prison officer to break the laws they are supposed to
uphold and to engage in the same behaviour they are trying to "correct" in
inmates.

And a prison officer who uses drugs is bound to be more susceptible to
efforts by inmates to bring drugs into prison.

In some ways, this is the same principle that applies to heightened
awareness about terrorism.

In the wake of September 11, we do not mind enduring longer security checks
at airports - and being searched ourselves - if this means that terrorists
are being deterred or stopped as well.

Prison officers and prison visitors should not object to searches or being
held to higher standards than the rest of the general public because by
being searched, they are helping to make the prisons a safer and more
lawful environment for everyone.