DRUG RUNS NO LONGER A SHOE-IN FOR INMATES

Drugs and weapons have been literally walking through the door at
some GTA correctional facilities -- prompting new rules on what
inmates can wear in custody.

Correctional officials, long plagued by contraband in jail, have
instituted a shoe policy to combat a new method of smuggling drugs and weapons.

Over the past few months, prisoners were accused of hiding contraband
inside the soles of hollowed-out shoes. Authorities have seen so many
similarities in the handiwork -- and the brand of shoe -- they
suspect a single source, possibly at one central depot.

They believe the payoff for smuggling contraband into jail is so
lucrative that some people ponder getting arrested deliberately for
"minor" things in order to go behind bars for a few days.

It's basic economics: scarcity drives up prices, say the authorities.

"You've got to remember, in jail a regular tobacco cigarette is worth
$50. So this is big, big dollars for them," said Det. Joe Digiovanni
of 41 Division. A small quantity of marijuana that would sell for $10
on the street can go for 10 times higher behind bars.

"It's causing a lot of extra work for everyone," the detective said
yesterday of the procedures involved when it comes to incarcerating suspects.

Last month, Digiovanni charged a man with possessing marijuana for
the purpose of trafficking after correctional officials at Toronto
East Detention Centre intercepted a pair of Nike running shoes. The
soles had been stuffed with pot.

Two weeks earlier, Toronto police charged another man with drug
trafficking after he allegedly tried to sneak dope into the jail near
Eglinton and Warden Aves. inside his carved-out footwear.

Both cases are before the courts.

The shoe phenomenon appears to have first been noticed 2 1/2 years
ago. According to an Oct. 14, 2004 "security bulletin," a truckload
of Nike shoes "may have been stolen exclusively for the purpose to
smuggle contraband into correctional facilities." Paul Downing,
manager-chief inspector for the Correctional Investigation and
Security Unit, signed the warning.

The bulletin was issued after staff at the jail discovered two pairs
of Nike Air running shoes had been tampered with "when the soles of
the shoes had been slit and then hollowed out to create a compartment
to conceal contraband. Included was a tube of glue so the sole could
be returned to it's (sic) original appearance."

Attached to the bulletin was a photograph of the shoes, with the sole
folded back to expose the cavity. Since catching onto the scheme,
corrections employees have been hyper-vigilant, particularly when an
inmate comes in wearing Nike shoes. The hollowed-out versions are
also believed to have been used to bring small, box-cutter type
knives into jails and detention centres.

But while "intake" staff conduct thorough searches, "the quality of
alterations has improved significantly so it's undetectable," said a
source familiar with the practice.

And there are other issues. For instance, if an inmate enters a
facility wearing high-end designer shoes, "if you cut (them open) ...
if they're altered during a search, then the taxpayer is on the
hook," said the source.

Some institutions have also tightened up rules regarding what inmates
can wear to court after several incidents where inmates returned with
contraband sewn into the lining of their clothes.

Law enforcement and court officials say those rule changes are easily
observed since so many prisoners are now coming to court in
jail-issued orange jumpsuits and blue running shoes. Previously,
people accused of crimes facing judges and juries were permitted to
wear their own clothes since it's widely believed jail-issued clothes
automatically confers criminal status.

"They're taking away all of their personal property in the jails ...
including the shoes, so now they get these jail shoes," said a source
in law enforcement. A spokesman for the Ministry of Community Safety
and Correctional Services refused to comment.

"Inmates are constantly coming out with innovative ways of trying to
bring contraband into the institutions and yeah, when we come across
an incident we look at the procedures we've got in place and we make
changes we think we need to block that from happening again," said
Stuart McGetrick, adding he was "not going to talk about specific
changes because that's a security issue."

And while the government has incident reports "on this kind of
thing," the ministry is unable to provide total numbers either for an
institution or provincewide, he said.

Meanwhile, another serious safety issue facing corrections officials
is the practice by inmates of "hooping" small pocket knives in their
anuses, causing corrections staff in some institutions to resort to
using metal detectors.

Sometimes, inmates go to hospital to be X-rayed. "It becomes an issue
of safety," said Digiovanni. Another option used by officials is to
put those suspected of "hooping" knives in a toilet-free "dry cell,"
where they are watched when they must use the washroom.