DRUG TROUBLE AT JAIL LEADS TO LOCKDOWN

Weekend inmates - under pressure to smuggle in contraband - being kept in
cells to keep facility safe

Guards at the new jail in Dartmouth are locking down inmates serving
intermittent weekend sentences as a safety measure and to prevent drugs
from being smuggled in.

"The situation with respect to intermittent-sentence inmates is that when
they arrive in the institution, for their own personal safety and the
security of the institution itself, they are locked in their cells,"
Michele McKinnon, provincial Justice Department spokeswoman, said Friday.

"We have had a great deal of difficulty with contraband and contraband
being passed throughout the institution."

On most weekends, there are 25 to 30 inmates serving intermittent sentences
at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Centre.

Ms. McKinnon confirmed the lockdown after an intermittent-sentence inmate
called this newspaper to complain.

The 40-year-old, who asked that his name not be published, said the
lockdown has been in effect for six or seven weeks.

The weekend inmates, who usually arrive Friday night and leave Monday
morning, are finding the lockdown unbearable, he said.

Some inmates feel like animals, he said.

"You don't get no showers. You don't get nothing," he said. "You don't get
no phone calls.

"You can't watch television because you are shoved in your cell (and) they
only have the one big television. All you do is lie in your bunk."

The inmate is serving a 20-weekend sentence for breaching probation.

"Guys are in there setting off sprinkler heads and everything. They just
get (upset) and figure that will get them out of it."

Sometimes, intercoms have also been turned off, preventing some weekend
inmates with medical conditions from contacting guards, he said.

Ms. McKinnon said the lockdown for weekend inmates is necessary to ensure
safety at the jail.

"Even though the (people serving) intermittent sentences are kept within
their own unit, we have to take these steps, and we will take whatever
steps are necessary to protect the safety of these individuals as well as
our staff and the institution itself," she said.

"Unfortunately, there is a great deal of pressure on the
intermittent-sentenced inmates to bring contraband into the facility, and
we have had to take this step to prevent that from happening."

Inmates serving intermittent sentences are permitted to shower before
entering their cells Friday night and before they leave Monday morning, she
said.

Ms. McKinnon said the measure underscores the need to abolish such
sentences in favour of custodial or conditional ones.

"One of the reasons why we're pushing the . . . federal government to
abolish intermittent sentences is exactly this kind of thing," she said.
"We have a great deal of problem with the security issue - with the ability
to (bring) contraband into the facility, and the pressure these individuals
are under from other inmates to bring contraband in."

Ottawa has been "receptive to the notion of abolishing intermittent
sentences," but four provinces oppose scrapping them, she said.