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| Prison drugs, weapons on rise |
| By The London Free Press |
| Published: 05/03/2004 |
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Convicts in Canada's prisons are getting more cocaine, home-brewed booze, heroin and deadly weapons, including explosives, Sun Media has learned. Records obtained under Access to Information legislation reveal a cornucopia of contraband seized by the Correctional Service of Canada. On the rise last year was the amount of inmate drugs of choice: marijuana, opiates, tranquilizers and cocaine. Among the 624 weapons seized in a six-month period were zip guns, explosives, knives, razor blades, pieces of glass, pipes and clubs. The volume of confiscated cell-made alcohol is rising sharply, with 6,436 litres seized in a six-month span. It is made by mixing fruit or potato peels with spit and sugar. The brew is then left to ferment. Even though seizures of drugs and booze are on the rise, reports obtained by Sun Media suggest the number of urinalysis tests to detect drunks and drug-users are on the decline due to "budgetary restraints." But Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) spokesperson Michele Pilon-Santilli insists there has been no drop in tests and funding for in-house security has actually increased in the last few years. Pilon-Santilli said the CSC takes strong measures to stem the tide of dangerous goods in Canada's prisons. But convicts and their visitors use creative methods to elude X-rays, computer scanners, drug dogs and surveillance to smuggle contraband into jails. Along with the traditional method of drug-stuffed condoms in body cavities, visitors have used heels of shoes, shampoo bottles and even baby diapers to sneak drugs into prisons, she said. Arrows with drug caches have also been shot over prison barriers. As for the weapons, explosives can be manufactured by inmates storing up a stash of sulphur, she said. Often knives and other dangerous weapons can be built with materials pilfered from prison work shops. |
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