Apparently, there are three ways to get drugs into prison: Through guards, visitors and by throwing contraband over the fence. Depending on the institution, (minimum to maximum security) measures to prevent drugs coming into prisons can vary from body scanners and x-rays, to not much at all.

Sharing needles is causing an almost rampant spread of HIV/Aids and Hepatitis C in prison populations. The number of people in jail because of possession and trafficking is huge, but let's not leave out those who committed a crime to finance a drug addiction, or who committed a crime while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

This is scary stuff — and meaningful long-term rehabilitation doesn’t seem to be a suggestion thrown around much.

Please pray for those currently incarcerated and wanting freedom from a drug and alcohol addiction, that they might hear of Teen Challenge. Click here for more information about the program.

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Guards smuggling drugs into Regina jail: police

Two correctional officers were arrested Thursday in Regina, accused of drug trafficking at the local jail, police announced Friday.

Al Hilton, Saskatchewan's deputy minister of corrections, public safety, and policing, confirmed that the two arrested worked as guards.

Hilton said he was disappointed to learn of the allegations and spoke of his reaction, referring to himself in third person.

"The deputy minister is pretty disappointed when he hears that the RCMP have arrested his employees for smuggling drugs into one of our facilities," Hilton said.

An RCMP release said a joint investigation with Regina city police led to the arrests.

The jail, just east of the city limits, is known officially as the Regina Provincial Correctional Centre.

An inmate is also suspected in the case, as are an unspecified number of people who live in Regina.

Hilton said the guards are suspected of smuggling illicit drugs into the jail for inmates.

While the RCMP said the investigation began some time in 2009, Hilton said suspicions about drug trafficking go back longer than that.

"Going back two or three years now there were suspicions that there may be individuals that work at the correctional centre that may be bringing drugs into the centre," Hilton said.

Police did not provide names of those arrested and said that charges had not yet been laid.

Hilton said corrections officers are not checked for contraband before they go in to work. He said that practice might change.

A report on the Regina facility following the high-profile escape of six inmates in 2008, said the jail was not well managed.

"There is a clear lack of authority between supervisory staff and corrections workers," the report found. It said the place was "under-managed particularly on evenings and weekends."

The facility houses inmates in a remand section, for men charged and in custody awaiting court dates. There are also several units for sentenced inmates. As a provincial facility, the sentences would be any length of time up to two years less a day.

There is room for around 500 inmates at the facility.

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