No fly zone: Quebec jails beefing up security to block contraband deliveries by drone

Criminals suspected of operating drones that deliver drugs, weapons and cellphones inside provincial jails will find new obstacles in their illicit trade.

Criminals suspected of operating complex networks of drones that deliver drugs, weapons and cellphones inside provincial jails will find new obstacles in their illicit trade.

At the Rivière-des-Prairies detention centre, authorities installed specially designed screens in front of windows that prevent prisoners from receiving their deliveries.

“Our goal is to create a bigger distance so inmates can’t reach the contraband,” said Vince Parente, the Montreal regional director for Quebec’s correctional division.

New airport-style body-scanners are also being installed in all of the province’s detention centres.

“It allows us to push body inspections much further than with regular searches,” said Priscillia Thiers, the director of operations at the Ministry of Public Security.

“They allow us to see if anything is hidden in body cavities.”

Some cellphones available on the market are extremely small and are easy to hide. But once behind bars, they become powerful tools for gangs who continue their criminal activities.

La Presse reported that a raid last week at the Montreal Detention Centre, better known as the Bordeaux jail, led to the seizure of 66 cell phones behind bars in one single sweep.

The new security measures are part of a $38-million dollar package to further secure provincial jails.

“We’re going to install a cellphone support fence in a couple of our prison window grills. We will install a body scan in all of our prisons, our detention facilities,” Public Security Minister Francois Bonnardel told reporters inside the Rivière-des-Prairies detention centre, which houses suspects awaiting trial or serving sentences of two years less a day. It currently houses 600 detainees.

Correctional services say that their best tool will be a new device that blocks cell communications. It makes the drones inoperable and also makes it harder for detainees to connect with the outside world.

The federal government recently authorized their use in provincial jails. But the technology needs to be fine-tuned first

“We had the authorization from the federal [government] only two months ago to test different technology coming from the RCMP in one of our detention [centres]. So, it will take take a couple of weeks, a couple of months,” Bonnardel said.

But prison guards, who are in the middle of tough contract negotiations, say forced overtime and staff shortage remains a major obstacle at better controlling illicit activities and neutralizing violence behind bars.