Source:   Vancouver Sun
Contact:    Fri 25 Jul 1997  B1 / Front

  Allegations fly in prison drug scandal : A prison guard who led an
  investigation claims that his union refused to protect him and his
  staff.

    By: Dianne Rinehart

   Allegations of misconduct and betrayal flew from all sides Thursday in
   the debate over a controversial prison team that was investigating
   drug deals.

   A prison guard who led the team, which he says found evidence
   corrections officers were dealing drugs to inmates, claims his union
   refused to protect him, his staff and their families from threats and
   harassment from other corrections officers.

   Ron Leskun said John Shields, president of the B.C. Government and
   Service Employees Union, refused to investigate complaints his team
   was being harassed by union members, including shop stewards, after
   two guards were dismissed in July 1995 for dealing drugs to inmates
   because it's in bed with the NDP government that disbanded his unit.

   Leskun said the harassers were guards  some of them union shop
   stewards  who believe correctional officers shouldn't ``rat'' on
   their fellow workers.

   Leskun's team was disbanded in February. He claims the government
   deepsixed it because of political pressure from the union, which
   threatened a wildcat strike unless the unit was disbanded.

   The government said Wednesday the unit was disbanded so it could be
   ``retooled'' and replaced with a team that would simply investigate
   inmates who are dealing drugs. Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh said he
   doesn't believe prison guards should be investigating other prison
   guards. That's a job for the police, he said.

   And Shields said Thursday it was Leskun and his team that were
   harassing other correctional officers. He added he hasn't been
   actively supportive of the NDP since the government announced it was
   laying off 3,500 of his union members shortly after the election last
   year.

   ``What has happened here is we have a corrections unit that became a
   rogue unit. It went off the direction given it.''

   Shields said there were numerous complaints against Leskun that he was
   overstepping the bounds of his authority.

   Asked why Leskun was praised for his investigative efforts by the
   director of the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre, Ron Williams,
   Shields said: ``It was his unit. He's directing it.''

   Shields said his union members believe Williams was using the unit
   ``to get them.''

   ``There's a perception among officers that this was his tool.''

   Bill Young, a representative for the Corrections Branch, said Thursday
   that Williams is a good manager who is dealing with a large and
   difficult institution.

   ``He would manage his staff according to proper procedures.''

   Shields also said Thursday that Leskun cannot corroborate his
   allegations that staff were dealing drugs to inmates.

   The two officers who were fired were never charged by police. One was
   reinstated and allowed to resign and given $20,000. The other agreed
   to simply leave the public service.

   Shields said there wasn't a shred of evidence the two did anything
   wrong and they left after it was agreed there would be no cloud over
   their heads.

   John Mochrie, a representative of the Public Service Employee
   Relations Commission, which negotiates grievances, said Wednesday the
   deal ``resulted in the two persons involved leaving the public
   service. . .

   ``What we were negotiating was how to deal with it without going to
   arbitration . . .. As a result, they left the public service.''

   Liberal MP Mike de Jong continued his attack on the government
   Thursday for disbanding the unit. De Jong said the unit was disbanded
   to cover up the fact guards were dealing drugs to inmates.

   He said Shields should be ashamed of himself for abandoning Leskun.
   ``Ron Leskun is a member of his union and he has abandoned Ron Leskun,
   his colleagues and their families. He was given all the relevant
   information and he did nothing. He even goes so far as to try and cast
   doubt on his credibility on the grounds he served in Vietnam.''

   Quoting from memos from Williams, de Jong said: ``Every single
   reference to Ron Leskun in performance evaluations indicates he was a
   superior employee doing a superior job.

   ``Maybe Shields should realize as a representative of a union his job
   extends beyond simply covering the NDP's ass.''

   But Shields said Leskun turned to the Liberal party to take on his
   cause in the legislature, as a whistle blower, because he couldn't
   defend his charges that guards were dealing drugs.

   ``People listened to him, checked out his story, and no one could
   substantiate the allegations he was making.

   ``It's not that people didn't act.''