Public Safety committee  Yes, definitely.

Public Safety committee  Yes, it would be.

Public Safety committee  Do you mean needles, as in syringes?

Public Safety committee  Yes, but the majority of the syringes that we find are jail-made. They're not like the pharmaceutical syringes you would find at a hospital; they're very crude devices. I believe you have some pictures of the some jail-made syringes that were seized.

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  Yes, I believe they obviously could be used as a weapon. A lot of these syringes are rented out, and inmates share them. With the concerns about HIV and hepatitis C, I definitely would not want to be stuck with one of those needles. In another sense too, it's a staff safety conce

Public Safety committee  I mean contractors in the sense that we're doing a lot of construction right now, so we have different construction companies coming into our institution.

Public Safety committee  They submit a site clearance form to our department, and we run a CPIC check on them. If there are no issues, they are given a site clearance to come in. When they come in, they are escorted by a commissionaire.

Public Safety committee  Throw-overs have definitely been an issue here at Drumheller, especially in the last few years. Years back we didn't have that many throw-overs, I think because of our proximity. I think this practice was brought in from other institutions. In other words, some thought, why don

Public Safety committee  I don't fully agree with that statement. Obviously we make it very difficult for inmates to smuggle drugs into our institution and so, yes, the institutional value of drugs is significantly higher than it is on the street. Drug prices within an institution obviously fluctuate th

Public Safety committee  Normally, financial transactions are done on the street. If I'm a drug dealer and three inmates each owe me $100, I'll provide those three inmates with a bank account number and tell inmate number 1 to deposit $100.06 into that specific bank account. I will tell inmate number 2 t

Public Safety committee  Organized crime groups have a lot of connections on the street and, frankly, a lot of money. Normally, they would contact their connections on the street to arrange packages to be put together and to be brought into our institutions. The main players and significant drug dealer

Public Safety committee  To begin with, on the comment that 70% of drugs entering our institution do so through staff members, I don't believe that to be so. No organization wants to admit there's corruption within its staff, but in reality it does exist. There are many methods that inmates can think o

Public Safety committee  Thank you very much for your comments. They are very much appreciated. Mr. Chair, I would really like to thank you for this unique opportunity. It is an honour and a privilege to share my experiences with you. My name is Darcy Thompson. I am a security intelligence officer in t