http://www.theglobeandmail.com/.../?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080124.wmules24
There is more in the full article, but here are a fiew exerpts:
So it seems that the guard who reported it has gotten into trouble for having done so because he didn't contact his supervisor first.
By the sounds of it there doesn't seem to be clear rules about what guards are supposed to do in these types of cases.
What those next steps are she doesn't say.
There is more in the full article, but here are a fiew exerpts:
Quote:
| VANCOUVER — A correctional officer is being investigated by his bosses after he told the B.C. Children's Ministry about a woman who used her baby to try to smuggle drugs into a federal prison, a union official says. The use of babies and young children to bring drugs into prisons is a problem across Canada, Gord Robertson, the regional president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, said yesterday. However, the union did not expect one of its members to be called on the carpet by Correctional Service Canada for doing what he believed he was legally required to do and had a duty to report. |
Quote:
| "[The officer] was doing what he thought was the best for the kids and he got in trouble for it," he said. "It's shocking, to be honest, that parents actually put their children in that kind of risky situation," he said. "They put the drugs in diapers or where our officers would not generally search, for obvious reasons." Citing recent incidents in Quebec and British Columbia, Mr. Robertson said correctional officers do not have clear rules for responding to visitors with babies who test positive for drugs at the front gate of the prison. Police and social service authorities are called only on rare occasions, he said. |
Quote:
| Ms. Brunette confirmed that every federal prison tests visitors for drugs. If a correctional officer has reasonable grounds to believe a visitor has drugs, the prison warden or manager on duty has the authority to decide what is the most appropriate next step, she said. |
Quote:
| The union leader said he expected CSC will not take disciplinary action against the correctional officer for contacting the children's ministry. Nevertheless, he said the investigation was a form of intimidation that could discourage the officer from reporting any further suspicions of child abuse. |
That corrections officer should be commended - of course, it is a matter for Child Protective Services, not just corrections.
