Evidence of meeting #18 for Public Safety and National Security in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was institutions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
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Conservative
Candice Bergen Conservative Portage—Lisgar, MB
That is one of the new ones, that's right, under our government. Thank you.
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Clinical Manager, Regional Treatment Centre, Kingston, Ontario, Correctional Service of Canada
Yes.
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Conservative
Jay Aspin Conservative Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Dr. Looman, my question is basically about drug or gang activity. You've touched a bit on the drug subculture and how it's often associated with gang activity and violence. In your opinion, would you say that gang activity is in large part responsible for the control of drugs entering prisons in Canada?
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Clinical Manager, Regional Treatment Centre, Kingston, Ontario, Correctional Service of Canada
Probably. Yes.
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Conservative
Jay Aspin Conservative Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
We've heard that the prices for contraband cigarettes, etc., are incredibly high due to scarcity. Can you just elaborate on that? What are the driving factors for gangs in prisons in relation to the drug trade?
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Clinical Manager, Regional Treatment Centre, Kingston, Ontario, Correctional Service of Canada
I'm not sure what you're asking.
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Conservative
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Clinical Manager, Regional Treatment Centre, Kingston, Ontario, Correctional Service of Canada
It's money and control, just as it is in the community. The drug trade in prisons is very lucrative.
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Conservative
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Clinical Manager, Regional Treatment Centre, Kingston, Ontario, Correctional Service of Canada
It is scarcity and demand. If I'm the leader of a gang that controls the flow of drugs in an institution, it makes me a lot of money.
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Conservative
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Conservative
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
Mr. Scarpaleggia, did you have anything else that you wanted to bring out?
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
He's been gracious enough to give us a few more minutes, and I wanted to make sure that if anyone else had a question we'd get to hear it.
All right, if there are no other questions, thank you for being here today. In the prisons, the whole mental health issue ties in with the drug dependency issue. We thank you for your input and your recommendations. Thank you for coming, and have a safe trip back to Kingston.
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Clinical Manager, Regional Treatment Centre, Kingston, Ontario, Correctional Service of Canada
Thank you for inviting me.
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
All right.
We are going to suspend momentarily. We will come back in two or three minutes in camera. We want to discuss a little bit about the upcoming report.
[Proceedings continue in camera]
