Correctional Service of Canada: Contraband Seizure at Bowden Institution

INNISFAIL, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Jan. 27, 2011) - On January 25, 2011, staff seized a package of contraband, believed to be marijuana, from a visitor who attended Bowden Institution. The seizure was the result of combined efforts by Correctional Officers, Security Intelligence Officers, and the Innisfail detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The visitor was arrested and is facing criminal charges.

The suspected package of marijuana weighed approximately 80 grams. The institutional value of the seized drugs is approximately $13,000.00.

Correctional Service Canada (CSC) has a number of tools available that are consistently used in efforts to control the flow of drugs into federal institutions including: searches of offenders and visitors, ion scanners, drug detector dogs, and searches of buildings and cells.

As part of its Transformation Agenda, CSC has strengthened measures to prevent contraband from entering institutions, in order to help ensure a safe and secure environment for everyone, and promote a rehabilitative environment for inmates. CSC also works in partnership with the police to prosecute inmates and others who attempt to have contraband brought into correctional institutions.

Bowden Institution is a federal penitentiary located between the communities of Innisfail and Bowden, Alberta. Currently there are 563 medium security offenders and 74 minimum security offenders at Bowden Institution.