Prison guards in British Columbia's Fraser Valley recently intercepted a pigeon carrying crystal meth. The incident of drones trying to drop contraband or someone trying to send drugs in has caused concerns. The level of vigilance in the prison has been heightened.
A recent discovery of a pigeon hovering inside the prison walls with drugs has raised concerns. John Randle, the president of the Pacific Region explained to Global News. Randle said a pigeon was located inside the prison walls with a backpack. They discovered the small package attached to the pigeon contained crystal meth.
The incident took place on December 29th in Abbotsford at the maximum, medium, and minimum federal penitentiary. According to Randle, the pigeon was found close to one of the recreational yards. Correctional officers and security intelligence officers were doing their standard patrols. This was when they first spotted the pigeon outside one of the unit's yards.
The president of the Pacific Region for the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, John Randle, talked about the discovery. Randle shared they have had other issues in the past. However, he has never heard of birds used to smuggle things into prisons in his 13-year career.
He said it was like criminals and inmates were reverting to older technologies. Randle said that a huge part of correctional officers' daily job has become keeping drugs out of prisons across Canada.
Per Global News, Randle further shared that the pigeon issue added a new element to drug problems. Right now, investigators are unclear if the bird was being trained by someone inside the prison or outside. However, staff and patrols have been increased to watch for any drops.
He also said they have an anti-drone technology that functions like a radar. A joint investigation was launched with the Correctional Service of Canada and the RCMP. The pigeon was later let go without its package.
In November 2022, the B.C. prison was locked down due to a plausible security bleach. According to the Correctional Service of Canada, the lockdown was at the Mission Institute. This was due to the security of the Institute and the safety of inmates and staff.
At that time, John Randle spoke to Global News about the incident. He said the lockdown was due to a belief that a firearm was dropped into the prison by a drone. Randle said drones have been used to drop things on the prison grounds in the past. However, that was the first time he heard of a firearm delivery with a drone.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mission Institute was among the correctional facilities that were greatly affected. In April 2020, the prison was locked down as a result of the rapid spread of the virus.
The virus infected 6 correctional officers and 41 inmates at the same time. At the medium security wing, the Mission Institute has the capacity to hold 216 inmates. While at the minimum security wing, it has the capacity to hold 324 inmates. It also has 155 correctional officers.
