Ability to detect drugs at prison ‘sliced and diced’: union

WINNIPEG — The Correctional Service of Canada has hamstrung the ability of Stony Mountain Institution to stamp out contraband smuggling amid wide-reaching departmental budget cuts, the union for corrections officers argues.

The department is cutting two of the prison’s four detector-dog handler positions, two of its dogs, one of the two mobile patrol vehicles that circled the prison walls 24 hours a day to guard against smugglers and escapees, and several multi-function corrections officer positions, says the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.

“Our ability to detect the introduction of (illicit drugs), our ability to respond to security incidents, including overdoses, has all been sliced and diced,” said Jake Suelzle, who’s president of the union’s Prairie region.

Suelzle’s comments come as Ronald Kehler was recently sentenced to more than eight years in prison after he was caught with $1.2 million worth of drugs in his cell.

The correctional service is reducing department spending by more than $132 million by the 2028-29 fiscal year, a commitment made after Prime Minister Mark Carney ordered federal departments to rein in expenses.

A Correctional Service of Canada spokesman insisted the department’s goal is to use all of its available resources in the most effective way possible to keep prisons and the public safe.

“The safety and security of our institutions remains our highest priority,” Correctional Service of Canada spokesman Jeff Campbell said in an email.

Suelzle argues the reductions at Manitoba’s only federal prison — it’s unclear how much Stony Mountain’s budget has been cut — will be deeply felt.

“We have a situation where drugs and violence are escalating anyway, and then we’re cutting off our most effective detection tools and the people that we have within the institution that are set to respond to these (issues),” said Suelzle.

Suelzle said the cuts to the detector dog team program, which he called the “bread and butter” of the service’s narcotic and contraband control capabilities, are “extremely shocking.”

The correctional service has said it’s cutting back on dedicated canine units tied to specific prisons and instead plans to use a regional approach, meaning teams will be deployed to prisons as required.

It’s unclear whether the two dog teams that remain at Stony will be used elsewhere.

The loss of a mobile patrol unit will mean fewer eyes on the perimeter of the prison, Suelzle said.

It takes several minutes for the corrections officers, who are armed, to circle around the property in their vehicles, he said.

One of the multi-function positions that has been cut involves an officer watching over the prison yard from a tower, including to spot aerial drones that drop contraband into the prison yard, said Suelzle.

Most contraband — illicit drugs, tobacco and cellphones, for example — is smuggled into prisons via drones or by people throwing packages over walls, said Suelzle.

“Drugs are more prevalent within prison than they are on the streets of any city, Winnipeg included,” said Suelzle.

The goods are worth drastically more inside prison than on the street, and organized crime groups, along with individuals, are involved in the smuggling, said the union official.

“If we’re catching packages worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, it’s pretty safe to say that from a business model point of view, if they’re willing to lose a package of $100,000, what are they actually getting through that’s being profitable?” Suelzle asked.

Another union official, who works at Stony Mountain, said drug seizures made at the prison in the first six months of this year are estimated to be worth about $2.4 million inside the institution.

The department’s spending cuts will result in the loss of more than 400 correctional service positions across the country.

Most of those reductions will be achieved through workforce adjustments — workers will have the option to leave or take another role.

The service’s spokesman said reducing staff positions does not mean it is cutting back on its commitment to keeping drugs from entering its prisons.

“Any decisions regarding staffing levels are made carefully and based on ongoing assessments of operational requirements, intelligence trends, and the effectiveness of available interdiction measures,” Campbell said.

“CSC continues to employ a comprehensive, multi-layered approach to contraband interdiction.”

That includes “intelligence-led operations,” new technologies, staff vigilance and perimeter security measures, in tandem with services such as dog teams.

Federal prisons employ ion scanners, body scanners, radio-frequency jammers and other technology to root out smuggling.

The department is to receive $60.4 million, announced in the spring economic update, to improve and enhance drone detection and disruption capabilities and technologies, Campbell said.

The union believes the drone-detecting technology that’s currently used is obsolete.

Most of the union’s members can understand that a federal government department has room to trim in the budget, but the cuts made appear to be “on the muscle instead of on the fat,” said Suelzle.

“(It) seems very counterproductive to what we’re trying to do to maintain public safety and institutional security,” he said.

» Winnipeg Free Press