Pubdate: Wed, 25 Jul 2012
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Copyright: 2012 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Contact: http://www.leaderpost.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html
Website: http://www.leaderpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361
Author: Heather Polischuk

Jail Drug Smuggling

NO WORD ON CHANGES

The province won't say whether any changes have been made to security 
screening to prevent situations in which staff members can bring 
drugs into the Regina Correctional Centre.

Earlier this week, a longtime employee of the provincial jail became 
the second of two staff members to be handed a prison sentence after 
bringing a variety of illegal drugs into the facility for inmates. 
During the sentencing for Brent Miles Taylor, Regina Court of Queen's 
Bench Justice Eugene Scheibel referred to the fact the then-guard was 
in a perfect position to bring the contraband in.

"He was not only allowed free access to the prison, but free access 
to the inmates," Scheibel wrote in his sentencing decision. "Guards 
were not searched when they commenced their work; they had their own 
secure locker and they were trusted to act in a manner fitting their 
occupation.

"It was therefore very easy for a guard to bring drugs into the 
Correctional Centre and equally easy to deliver them to the inmates. 
For a guard so inclined to traffic in drugs, this was the near 
perfect situation with little risk of detection because he was in 
total control of the situation."

Art Jones, spokesman for the Ministry of Corrections and Policing, 
said he could not speak to the specific case, nor would he speak to 
security procedures at all.

"Security's something we're very aware of and I'm not about to give 
you any details about how our security procedures work, but what I 
can say to you is that anytime we have an incident of this nature or 
any other nature, we do review our security policies and once that 
review is completed, we make a decision as to what direction we're 
going to be going in," he said.

While it's a near certainty this case would have brought on a review, 
Jones wouldn't say what, if any, changes to security policy resulted 
- - such as if staff are now subject to search upon entry.

According to the province's Correctional Services Act, available 
online, inmates and visitors can be searched; staff is also subject 
to searches, but only "where authorized by the director or 
administrator." The act doesn't specify where or when searches are to 
be carried out, other than "where reasonably required for the safety 
of any person or the security of a correctional facility."

The union representing staff at the jail, the Saskatchewan Government 
and General Employees' Union (SGEU), was contacted but hadn't made a 
spokesperson immediately available.

Court heard the trafficking in Taylor's case went on for 
approximately 2 1/2 years, between 2007 and 2010, with the staff 
member smuggling in a variety of drugs between 30 and 40 times. The 
drugs - which included cocaine, Demerol, morphine, marijuana and 
cannabis resin - were packed inside tobacco pouches by civilians 
outside the jail, then carried in by two staff members.

Former correctional officer Larry Barager also received a 
penitentiary sentence for his role in the incident, having pleaded 
guilty to a variety of drug charges.

While Barager admitted to committing the offences, Taylor has 
insisted he wasn't aware he was carrying drugs.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom