Lockdown, search ended at Dorchester Penitentiary

Dorchester Penitentiary in New Brunswick. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)

A multi-week lockdown put in place at a federal correctional facility in New Brunswick has ended.

Correctional Service Canada (CSC) says the medium security unit at Dorchester Penitentiary was locked down on June 9 to allow staff members to conduct a search of the prison.

“The institution has resumed its normal operations and visits have resumed,” reads a news release from CSC.

“During the exceptional search, contraband and unauthorized items were found.”

The lockdown came after officers seized more than half a million dollars of contraband at the penitentiary on June 2.

CSC said officers found a package containing the contraband on the perimeter of the prison. Officials said the items seized included methamphetamine, marijuana, shatter, nicotine patches and tobacco, with an estimated institutional value of $534,100.

They suspect the contraband was dropped by a drone.

CSC says it is strengthening measures to prevent the entry of contraband into its institutions and is working with police to take action against those who attempt to have contraband brought into correctional institutions.

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