Pubdate: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Page A12 Copyright: The Vancouver Sun 2000 Contact: 200 Granville Street, Ste.#1, Vancouver BC V6C 3N3 Fax: (604) 605-2323 Website: http://www.vancouversun.com/ Author: Jim Bronskill PRISONS ADOPT NEW ANTI-DRUG, ANTI-GANG PLANS OTTAWA - Frequent searches, more sniffer dogs and intensive treatment units are among newly approved Corrections Canada measures to try to stamp out the serious drug problem in federal prisons. The initiatives are among two dozen task force recommendations the prison service recently adopted - on everything from aboriginal gangs to guard uniforms - with the aim of improving security at institutions. The service has rejected several controversial proposals from the task force, including removal of razor wire and most firearms from prisons, that sparked a public outcry. Members of the service's executive committee felt some of the ideas "would be difficult to explain in the current public environment," Ole Ingstrup, the Corrections Commissioner, said in a memo to staff this week. However, the executive committee continues to study several contentious proposals in the report, including giving more inmates access to their cell keys and generally making prisons less bleak and more like the outside world. "In the future, the majority of prisons could be constructed within a secure perimeter and take the form of small communities that promote co-operation and responsible choices among inmates who live there." Canadian Alliance MP Myron Thompson, who obtained a leaked copy of the report last December, blasted the proposed move towards more friendly prisons as the product of "bleeding-heart bookworms from their ivory towers." - --- MAP posted-by: Allan Wilkinson