KP NURSE SMUGGLED DRUGS FOR INMATES

Local News - A registered nurse who worked in the prison hospital at
Kingston Penitentiary has pleaded guilty to smuggling drugs for inmates.
Deborah Coates, 41, who also worked at Kingston General Hospital for 17
years, was sentenced to a nine-month jail term, to be served conditionally
in the community.

Prosecutor Dave Crowe told Mr. Justice Rommel Masse of the Ontario Court of
Justice yesterday that investigators learned from telephone taps that
Coates was bringing drugs into the prison for two inmates.

"[The inmates] had Coates bring drugs into the hospital and then arrange to
meet them to pass on the packages," Crowe said.

Security staff seized a package carried by Coates on Oct. 2, 2000, and
found it contained 51 grams of marijuana. Coates was charged. Crowe said
the drugs were worth more than $1,500 inside a federal prison.

Depression

Coates's lawyer, Robert Richardson, said his client suffers from severe
depression. This made her vulnerable to preying inmates and she acted
completely out of character, he said.

Richardson gave the judge medical and psychological reports which said
there was little chance the nurse would commit such a crime again.

"There's no reason to believe Ms. Coates would not learn from this
experience," Richardson told the judge when asked what might happen if the
woman falls under someone's spell again.

The defence lawyer also said his client left Kingston because of the
embarrassment the charge brought her and she now attends school in Welland,
with the support of her husband and children.

Despite the seriousness of the crime, both Crowe and Richardson told Mr.
Justice Masse they support a conditional sentence because of the woman's
circumstances.

"Your crime constitutes a serious breach of trust," the judge told Coates.
He said her job as a nurse was to dispense medicine and help provide
medical care in the prison hospital. "Bringing drugs into the institution
is a far cry from that."

He agreed to accept the conditional sentence recommendation and placed
Coates under virtual house arrest for the first four months of the
nine-month sentence.

She also must perform 50 hours of community service during the nine months
of her sentence and 50 more after that.