Nothing greatly newsworthy here but I'm sure some will find it interesting.
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/199782
Drug runs no longer a shoe-in for inmates
Betsy Powell
Crime Reporter
Drugs and weapons have been literally walking through the door at some GTA correctional facilities – prompting new rules on what inmates can wear in custody.
Correctional officials, long plagued by contraband in jail, have instituted a shoe policy to combat a new method of smuggling drugs and weapons.
Over the past few months, prisoners were accused of hiding contraband inside the soles of hollowed-out shoes. Authorities have seen so many similarities in the handiwork – and the brand of shoe – they suspect a single source, possibly at one central depot.
They believe the payoff for smuggling contraband into jail is so lucrative that some people ponder getting arrested deliberately for "minor" things in order to go behind bars for a few days.
It's basic economics: scarcity drives up prices, say the authorities.
"You've got to remember, in jail a regular tobacco cigarette is worth $50. So this is big, big dollars for them," said Det. Joe Digiovanni of 41 Division. A small quantity of marijuana that would sell for $10 on the street can go for 10 times higher behind bars.
"It's causing a lot of extra work for everyone," the detective said yesterday of the procedures involved when it comes to incarcerating suspects.
Last month, Digiovanni charged a man with possessing marijuana for the purpose of trafficking after correctional officials at Toronto East Detention Centre intercepted a pair of Nike running shoes. The soles had been stuffed with pot.
Two weeks earlier, Toronto police charged another man with drug trafficking after he allegedly tried to sneak dope into the jail near Eglinton and Warden Aves. inside his carved-out footwear.
Both cases are before the courts.
The shoe phenomenon appears to have first been noticed 2 1/2 years ago. According to an Oct. 14, 2004 "security bulletin," a truckload of Nike shoes "may have been stolen exclusively for the purpose to smuggle contraband into correctional facilities." Paul Downing, manager-chief inspector for the Correctional Investigation and Security Unit, signed the warning.
The bulletin was issued after staff at the jail discovered two pairs of Nike Air running shoes had been tampered with "when the soles of the shoes had been slit and then hollowed out to create a compartment to conceal contraband. Included was a tube of glue so the sole could be returned to it's (sic) original appearance."
Attached to the bulletin was a photograph of the shoes, with the sole folded back to expose the cavity. Since catching onto the scheme, corrections employees have been hyper-vigilant, particularly when an inmate comes in wearing Nike shoes. The hollowed-out versions are also believed to have been used to bring small, box-cutter type knives into jails and detention centres.
But while "intake" staff conduct thorough searches, "the quality of alterations has improved significantly so it's undetectable," said a source familiar with the practice.
And there are other issues. For instance, if an inmate enters a facility wearing high-end designer shoes, "if you cut (them open) ... if they're altered during a search, then the taxpayer is on the hook," said the source.
Some institutions have also tightened up rules regarding what inmates can wear to court after several incidents where inmates returned with contraband sewn into the lining of their clothes.
Law enforcement and court officials say those rule changes are easily observed since so many prisoners are now coming to court in jail-issued orange jumpsuits and blue running shoes. Previously, people accused of crimes facing judges and juries were permitted to wear their own clothes since it's widely believed jail-issued clothes automatically confers criminal status.
"They're taking away all of their personal property in the jails ... including the shoes, so now they get these jail shoes," said a source in law enforcement. A spokesman for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services refused to comment.
"Inmates are constantly coming out with innovative ways of trying to bring contraband into the institutions and yeah, when we come across an incident we look at the procedures we've got in place and we make changes we think we need to block that from happening again," said Stuart McGetrick, adding he was "not going to talk about specific changes because that's a security issue."
And while the government has incident reports "on this kind of thing," the ministry is unable to provide total numbers either for an institution or provincewide, he said.
Meanwhile, another serious safety issue facing corrections officials is the practice by inmates of "hooping" small pocket knives in their anuses, causing corrections staff in some institutions to resort to using metal detectors.
Sometimes, inmates go to hospital to be X-rayed. "It becomes an issue of safety," said Digiovanni. Another option used by officials is to put those suspected of "hooping" knives in a toilet-free "dry cell," where they are watched when they must use the washroom.
