Pubdate: Fri, 06 May 2016
Source: Kingston Whig-Standard (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Sun Media
Contact: http://www.thewhig.com/letters
Website: http://www.thewhig.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/224
Author: Ian MacAlpine
Page: A1

CORRECTIONS OFFICERS WELCOME FULL-BODY SCANNERS

The president for the union representing correctional service officers
at Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee applauds the provincial
government's commitment to install full-body scanners at all of its 26
correctional facilities across the province.

"We've been lobbying for this for a very long time," said Tom O'Neill,
president of Local 467 of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union,
in a telephone interview Thursday.

Earlier this week, Yasir Naqvi, the Minister of Community Safety and
Correctional Services, announced that the scanners, at a cost of $9.5
million, will all be installed by the end of 2018.

The cost includes 10-year maintenance on all of the
units.

The scanners are designed to detect items, such as ceramic knives,
tobacco and drugs, that are carried into the facility within a
person's body that normal metal detectors and other search techniques
can't find. "The inmates have been bringing in contraband internally
and there's really no way for us to monitor that," O'Neill said.

Full-body X-ray scanners are already used in the United States and
many other countries, said the news release.

Ontario will be the first jurisdiction in Canada to utilize this
additional security measure. Correctional Service Canada institutions
are not yet using the technology.

The scanners are being approved for all facilities after the province
conducted a pilot project using the scanner at the Toronto South
Detention Centre.

 From Aug. 31 of last year to the end of February, 16,427 scans were
completed, said the release. Of these, 86 inmates were identified as
possessing contraband, which included ceramic blades, marijuana and
pills.

The news release from the government also said the scanners are being
installed to "better identify and prevent contraband from entering
institutions, thus making facilities safer for staff and inmates."

Adult correctional facilities in Ontario currently use a variety of
other methods to prevent, detect, intercept, confiscate and reduce
contraband within their institutions, including the body orifice
security scanner ( BOSS) chair, hand-held and walk-through metal
detectors, strip searches and canine units.

Eleven facilities in the province, including the Ottawa- Carleton
Detention Centre, HamiltonWentworth Detention Centre and the
Toronto-area jails will receive their scanners starting later this
year through 2017. Quinte Detention Centre, Brockville's St. Lawrence
Valley Correctional and Treatment Centre, and Brockville Jail will get
their scanners in the second wave of facilities some time in 2017 or
2018.

"Moving forward with the installation of full-body scanners in all of
Ontario's adult correctional facilities will further improve staff and
inmate safety, reduce contraband, and build safer communities for
everyone," said Naqvi in a statement. "I am proud to have worked
closely with our correctional officers on this important safety
improvement and look forward to continuing to transform Ontario's
correctional system by increasing access to rehabilitation programs,
enhancing mental health supports, and improving community-based
reintegration partnerships"

O'Neill said the body scanners will improve the health and safety of
staff and inmates.

He said the scanners will solve some of the issues staff at Quinte are
experiencing.

"The types of problems we're having of late are things like ceramic
knives that are being smuggled in," said O'Neill, who called the
smuggling of drugs a "huge problem."

"Drugs and contraband tobacco. The tobacco means money and the drugs
mean money and they both mean trouble for us."

O'Neill said some criminals get arrested on purpose and bring the
contraband in their body internally to sell at the facility.

"That's how they make money," O'Neill said.

Staff members are also exposed to the smoke from tobacco and drugs
like crystal methamphetamine

"We don't know what's in this stuff," he said. "We're ingesting the
stuff, too, when we're at work."

Smoking is banned in all provincial institutions, but O'Neill said
inmates can find lots of places to hide while they smoke tobacco
and/or drugs.

"They go just about anywhere," he said with a chuckle.

O'Neill said the scanners will be set up in the inmate admitting
area.

"It's just a better tool for our folks to identify that
[contraband]."

The scanners will also cut down on inmate deaths from smuggling drugs
inside their body and having something go awry.

"Sometimes packages blow up inside them and generally when that
happens they don't survive."

O'Neill said the union has been lobbying for the scanners for many
years and credits union committees and the provincial government, led
by Naqvi, for working together to get them in the facilities.

"I give huge credit to our provincial health and safety committee and
our provincial employee relations committee in really pushing this
issue," he said. "This is a great step in the right direction, but
there's still work to be done."

Despite this announcement, O'Neill said there's still a crisis in
provincial corrections when it comes to overcrowding and other issues.

He said Quinte is getting 10 new correctional officers next week, as
well as another 10 in the fall.

"We haven't hired in a number of years and they [new officers] are in
demand everywhere."

Some units at other provincial facilities are not open yet, causing
overcrowding in other places because they're waiting for staff to be
hired to run the units.

Back in January, 6,000 correctional and probation officers, settled on
a contract at the last minute, avoiding a strike or lockout. Part of
the agreement included the hiring of about 800 officers across the
province.
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MAP posted-by: Matt