Ontario jails to get full-body scanners in a bid to reduce contraband

Ontario says it will use advanced technology to crackdown on smuggling of contraband into jails and detention centres,becoming the first province in Canada to install full-body scannersat all of its facilities.

Correctional Services Minister Yasir Naqvi said Tuesday thatcorrectional officers have recently seen an increase in non-metalliccontraband that evades the existing technology at the province's 26adult jails and detention centres.

"So as the times change and technology becomes more advanced, itis imperative that we change with them in order to keep our staffand inmates safe."

The scanners will be installed over two years at a cost of $9.5million, including maintenance over 10 years.

The move follows a six-month pilot projectattheTorontoSouthDetention Centre, which Naqvi said resulted in a reduction incontraband and fewer incidents with weapons.

During that project 16,427 scans were done and 86 inmates werefound with ceramic blades, pills, marijuana and other contraband.

The union representing correctional workers has told Naqvi thatinmates are now using Kinder Surprise packages to smuggle incontraband, he said.

Current methods of contraband detection -including a BodyOrifice Scanner chair that detects metal, hand-held and walk-throughmetal detectors, strip searches and dogs -can't always detect itemsthat are non-metallic or hidden internally.

Monte Vieselmeyer, with the Ontario Public Service EmployeesUnion, called the body scanners a "game changer."

"It's going to make it much safer for staff and the offenders wesupervise," he said.

Six offenders have died from overdoses at the Hamilton WentworthDetention Centre in approximately the last three years and theToronto South Detention Centre as well as other facilities have seenan increase in ceramic knives, Vieselmeyer said.

Guards, unions and opposition politicians have been pressing thegovernment for much-needed reforms to address what they call acrisis in corrections. Ontario's correctional facilities areunderstaffed and overcrowded to the point that it is jeopardizingguard and inmate safety, they say.

The Liberal government recently announced it would hire 2,000correctional officers over the next three years. The new hires alongwith the body scanners are "building blocks" toward addressingissues, though a crisis still exists, Vieselmeyer said.

At Toronto South the scanner was installed in the admission anddischarge area, so offenders being dropped off or returning fromcourts are scanned. There is no plan to require everyone, such asstaff and lawyers, go through the scanners, Naqvi said.

The facilities that correctional staff have sounded some of theloudest alarms over --including the Ottawa-Carleton DetentionCentre, the Thunder Bay jail and the Elgin-Middlesex DetentionCentre --will be among the first 11 to get the scanners in 2016-17.

The rest of the facilities will have scanners installed thefollowing year.