Pubdate: Sat, 29 Nov 2014
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Page: A4
Copyright: 2014 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.montrealgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: Paul Cherry

FACEBOOK POSTS FROM INSIDE A PRISON

'Sunny Profit' Brags About Drug Use And Trafficking From Behind
Bars

Warning - This story contains language that could be offensive to some people.

His real name is Michael Mines, a 30- year-old convicted drug dealer
from Pointe- Saint- Charles.

On Facebook, he uses the pseudonym Sunny Profit. There, for months in
the comfort of social media cyberspace, he has apparently posted
several updates about his frequent drug use inside the Cowansville
Institution and later the Donnacona Institution, a maximum-security
penitentiary near Quebec City.

The most recent Facebook post by the federal penitentiary inmate was
made this week, even after Mines was charged with drug trafficking
behind bars.

In some of his posts, Mines boasts of what drugs he has access to on a
regular basis, despite being inside the maximum-security facility.

The frequent postings - more than 30 this month alone - raise an
obvious question: How does an inmate update his Facebook page when
prisoners at federal penitentiaries do not have access to computers
with Internet access? Mines appears to have used mobile phones, a
popular form of contraband that is a growing problem for authorities
at provincial detention centres and penitentiaries.

Mines was able to update his Facebook status on Nov. 25, apparently
from the provincial detention centre in Sherbrooke, despite having
been charged the day before, in Granby, with drug trafficking inside
the Cowansville Institution.

Provincial court records confirm Mines is charged with selling
methamphetamine, cocaine and hashish inside the penitentiary when he
was at Cowansville on May 7. As the person named Sunny Profit on
Facebook mentions, the case returns to court in January.

"Tonight was my final night in Sherbrooke jail. What a final night it
was, spent the day smoking up & the night doing lines getting zooted,"
Mines posted on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

In his most recent post Wednesday, Mines described being transferred
to the Riviere-des- Prairies detention centre - a provincial
institution with an infirmary - most likely for health reasons. "I am
currently at RPD for the 8th time," he wrote. "This time they put me
in unit S3 top right, with the members of the Rizzuto Clan. Good
People. It's an honour to meet them."

Mines is serving a five-year prison term for a drug bust the Montreal
police made two years ago in Point- St- Charles, during which officers
seized a prohibited firearm.

On March 22, 2012, Montreal police responded to a noise complaint at
an apartment building on Knox St. When police arrived, Mines opened
his apartment door, but then closed it quickly to prevent them from
entering. The officers noticed something suspicious inside and waited
for a search warrant before entering. They found 215 marijuana plants,
1,958 grams of dried marijuana, 61 grams of cocaine, 109
methamphetamine pills and more than $ 7,600 in cash.

They also found a Ruger .22 calibre firearm that had been stolen in
2010, along with ammunition. At the time of the arrest, Mines was
still serving an 18- month conditional sentence for a similar drug
bust Montreal police made in 2010.

"I should say the police note in their report that when they arrested
him, ( Mines) told the police officers that he had just taken quite a
bit of methamphetamine and he was not feeling well," said the
prosecutor, who summarized the case for the court when Mines entered a
guilty plea to eight charges on Sept. 24, 2012.

Mines's postings on Facebook detail more drug abuse that may have
seriously damaged his lungs. While they don't mention how he is able
to update his Facebook page so often, it appears he has had access to
mobile phones. Some postings mention recent events at the Donnacona
Institution as they happened - such as the death of a fellow inmate on
Sept. 16.

"Early morning raids took place today as the sun was coming, a swarm
of guards and the drug dogs suddenly rushed the ( cell) blocks & began
cell searches," Mines posted in December, three days before
Correctional Service Canada issued a press release about the surprise
inspection. "Half the prison has been walking around all f -- ked up,
whacked out of their minds, smoking dope & getting drunk. It was so
blatant, perhaps we were asking for it."

"Unbelievably, they didn't even bother me!!"

Other posts on the page are very personal, including a thank you
letter to people who sent him greetings on his birthday last Monday,
and comments he makes about a respiratory problem. Other postings
include photos taken inside either the Cowansville or Donnacona
Institutions.

While Mines would have posted the comments from Sherbrooke,
Cowansville or near Quebec City at various times, Facebook lists their
location as being from Montreal.

Correctional Service Canada ( CSC) does not comment on anything
pertaining to a specific inmate because of privacy issues covered by
federal legislation. But CSC spokesperson Jean- Yves Roy said Friday
no one serving a sentence inside a penitentiary is supposed to have
access to the Internet.

"In no way should a person who is incarcerated have access to the
Internet. There are computers inside the establishments for training (
for example). There are also some inside the libraries, where they can
write letters and things like that. But in no way are they linked to
the Internet," Roy said.

In recent months, other media have reported on cases where inmates
have boasted on social networks about the access they have to
contraband. In September, the Journal de Montreal published a story
with photographs of an inmate at the Montreal Detention Centre posing
with a $ 250 bottle of Cognac. The story prompted provincial Public
Security Minister Lise Theriault to promise action will be taken in
the future while saying: "Our prisons are not Club Meds."

An internal briefing note prepared for federal public safety officials
in 2012, obtained by The Canadian Press through the Access to
Information Act, reveals the problem of mobile phones in
penitentiaries is not a simple one for authorities. Guards at federal
penitentiaries seized 137 cellphones across Canada during the first 10
months of this fiscal year, compared with 51 for all of 20082009. The
briefing note states "New Zealand, Ireland, Australia, France and
Mexico are using jamming technology in some of their prisons" and that
the U. S. prepared similar legislation in 2009, but the bill died the
following year."

"As you are aware, access to a cellphone provides inmates the
continuous potential to be involved in criminal activities outside the
institution - including drug trafficking and organized crime
activities - from within an institution," the note states before l i
sting potential problems associated with jamming cellphone signals
inside federal penitentiaries.

One problem involves the possibility of the jamming of signals
spilling beyond the perimeter of an institution and affecting the
phones of private individuals or emergency responders nearby. Another
is that the technology could interfere "in national security
investigations being carried out by the RCMP or CSIS." The briefing
note also mentions the possibility of health problems cell jamming can
cause to humans and "on animal species such as bees."  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D