A package containing tobacco and narcotics was found on Saturday by staff in the field of the Rimouski detention establishment. The Syndicate of Peace Agents in Correctional Services of Quebec (SAPSCQ-CSN) estimates that it is a delivery of drugs by drone that failed.
The Ministry of Public Security confirms that the substances entered have a market value in detention of approximately $ 18,300.
In a response transmitted in writing, the ministry indicates that given the size of the detention establishment, the content of the package and its value, it is a seizure considered as majeure
.
According to the president of SAPSCQ-CSNMathieu Lavoie, this type of delivery would be more and more frequent outside the major centers.
Before, we saw him more in the big centers, but [depuis] In recent months, all establishments have faced this kind of deliveries.
Does it surprise me? No, because we see it, the drug deliveries for organized crime, for people who are influential, increase in our detention establishments. It is a business that is very lucrative for these groups
he adds.
The president of the union says that prisoners sometimes even go so far as to have parcels delivered to the window of their cell.
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The drugs who were seized by the correctional agents were packed in a nylon bottom, according to the union of correctional agents.
Photo: Syndicate of Peace Agents in Correctional Services of Quebec
Mathieu Lavoie believes that Quebec should invest more to renovate detention centers to ensure the safety of employees and prisoners since weapons are sometimes delivered in this way.
Often we will see cells delivered. We will see weapons, tools that will be delivered within detention establishments which could allow escapes or which could allow altercations
specifies the president of the union.
The safety of staff should be ensured inside the walls, the safety of the establishment too. And for that, it will take investments.
Quebec announced last October a sum of nearly $ 36 million over five years for the purchase of security equipment specialized in detention centers across the province.
The Sûreté du Québec does not confirm if an investigation is underway in connection with this event.
