THWARTING THROW-OVERS

A recent meeting of prominent players in the community has led to
several new initiatives designed to reduce incidents of drug
throw-overs at Stony Mountain Institution. The incidents increased in
late summer as days became shorter and often involved the culprits
dashing through the yards of residents living next to the federal prison.

The smugglers are then known to hide in a large bush located on the
north side of the prison.

That's where the edge of the institutional fence is - an easy target
to throw drugs onto prison property.

Inmates in the exercise yard then quickly snap them up. Stonewall
RCMP, along with the three levels of government, the Correctional
Service of Canada and the Stony Mountain Community Advisory Group
came up with a number of ways to curb the problem including
completely removing the bush which was facilitating the throw-overs.
Stony yard problem In addition, the Correctional Service is awaiting
approval to upgrade lighting on the northwest side of the jail and
the exercise yard will now be cut in half with a removable fence,
said Stonewall RCMP Sgt. Gerry Thomas. "A certain section of inmates
who are the ones receiving the drug throws wouldn't be allowed to go
in the full size exercise yard. The rest of them, who are not the
problem, would be entitled to the full range of exercise," said
Thomas. The drug tosses take place between 8:40 p.m. and 10:40 p.m.,
when the inmates are out in the exercise yard. "If there's evidence
of a throw, the inmates lose their big yard and go to the small yard
where they don't have access to the throws.

And now that we've narrowed it down to a time frame and we've
increased our vigilance during this time frame - unless there's
something I haven't heard about, we haven't had any throws." What
Stony Mountain citizens are most upset about is the fact that these
unsavoury characters, almost all of whom are from Winnipeg, are
ending up running through their yards at night.

Because of that, the RM of Rockwood is beginning the process of
building a fence across the back of the Stony Mountain curling rink.
With many of the smugglers parking at the rink or community club,
they would have to climb the fence in order to get to their
destination. "I've seen a lot of stuff going on," said Linda
Iwaszewski, who's lived directly next to the prison for 13 years.
"It's increased a lot over the last couple years.

The pen is doing a really good job of stopping drugs from getting in
in other ways. Throws are one of the only ways to get drugs in."
Increased patrols Stonewall RCMP have also agreed to dedicate more
time to patrolling the community during the time range. "It would be
nice if we had a quicker response from the RCMP," said Iwaszewski.
"That way more individuals could be caught right in the act. I've
noticed the pen acts really quickly (in ordering the inmates indoors
and searching the exercise yard after a throw) but they have no
jurisdiction outside the prison walls.

They're not able to come outside the jail and handle things."
"Deserve the same quality of life" "It's nice to see everyone working
towards resolution," said Coun. Greg Popoff, who represents the Stony
Mountain area. "I'll be happy when people living in that area don't
have to put up with that stuff anymore.

They deserve the same quality of life that those have not living next
to a penitentiary." In the last two months, prison staff has
intercepted drugs on four separate occasions - the last one coming on
Nov. 12. Thomas said the most common drugs are marijuana, crack
cocaine and hydromorphine pills. "Cash has no value inside," said
Thomas. "Drugs and tobacco - that's what's worth the money.

Pills are really in demand.

They're easy to hide, they're injectable, you don't need to smoke
them and there's less chance of getting caught." The big question now
is will these initiatives work? "We'll have to re-evaluate over a
period of time," said Thomas. "We'll have a close examination and see
if the objectives have been achieved.

We'll constantly re-evaluate to see what we can do better." Better,
as is often the case, might mean more expensive.

Popoff said more expensive fixes may be necessary in the future
including re-designing the prison yard, dedicating more police
resources to the area, or hiring a group of retired police officers
to survey the area. Although Thomas hopes the new initiatives will
curb the drug throws, he knows it's just a matter of time before
there's a new problem facing police. "That reality is there's a lot
of people inside that institution and they're in there because they
can't abide by the rules of society.

There's been many stories and legends about the ingenuity of our
prisoners of war during World War II. These guys are no different.

They have 24/7 to think about this." Thomas said one of the reasons
police have intercepted so many drug throws this year is due to the
help of the community. "Our citizens are very much vigilant and I
cannot express enough appreciation for their vigilance because
through their continued vigilance, we will gather sufficient
intelligence." If citizens notice suspicious vehicles or anything
suspicious in the area, they are encouraged to call the alert phone
number at 344-7132.