DRUG FLOW INTO JAILS NEEDS TO BE STOPPED

The problem may not be "rampant," as one senior corrections officials says,
but drug dealing in correctional facilities - both provincial and federal -
is one that must be addressed.

The death of Sonia Keepness from a possible drug overdose while in the Pine
Grove correctional facility is an extreme example of what can happen with
drugs in jails.

Two female inmates from Pine Grove have been charged with trafficking in a
narcotic after an investigation into Keepness's death was done.

Candace Dawn Ahenakew, 30, and Redenah Faith Thomas, 24, are accused of
selling drugs to now-deceased Sonia Faith Keepness, 37.

Keepness died Feb. 19, likely after having taken drugs. No specific cause
of death has yet been released. Police are continuing to investigate and no
results of an autopsy are yet available.

That Keepness died from drug use in the jail is the only new twist to an
old story.

"We don't consider it widespread, although we do know drugs get into the
institutions from time to time," said Don Head, executive director of the
corrections division of Saskatchewan Justice told the Regina Leader-Post on
Monday.

The comments came after a man convicted of armed robbery in Regina told a
provincial court judge about how he became a morphine user while doing time
in the Regina Correctional Centre.

Head said from time to time, corrections workers make seizures of hash oil,
marijuana, amphetamines and other drugs. The amount and type of drugs
seized varies depending on which offenders are incarcerated at any given
time, he said. He also said there is no upward trend - that drug use goes
in spurts.

The problem, however, is that many of the people in jails are there because
of a dependence on drugs or alcohol and what they will do to get their fix.

Keeping drugs out of the jails and prisons requires a commitment from those
is charge. It must be done, or rehabilitation efforts could be wasted on
people who are wasted on drugs.

Drug use in correctional facilities may not be rampant, but stopping it
must be a high priority. If the drugs can't be cut off when the addict in
inside a jail, then how can we expect to change their lifestyle to become
productive members of society?