Several inmates at the Bowden Institution could face discipline as an “exceptional search” of the facility turned up a number of “unauthorized items,” the institution's assistant warden of management services said.
Rita Wehrle said the institution was put on lockdown at 11 a.m. on June 25 and the search began at 12:30 p.m.
The search was completed at about noon on June 27 and at that time the lockdown ended.
“We felt that we should lock down and do a full search and ensure that there was no more of these items in population,” Wehrle said.
Staff searched living units in the institution's medium security facility, she added, and a number of inmates were found with the same item.
The current population of the medium security facility, which does not include the annex, is 550.
The facility's capacity is 544 inmates.
Although Wehrle would not disclose what the unauthorized item is, she said it is something not included on “property cards” that indicate what items an inmate is allowed to have in his cell.
An exceptional search is conducted when institution staff become aware of a potential problem within the facility.
“Unlike a routine search, which is something that we do on a routine basis because it's part of our policy to search the institution on an ongoing basis, an exceptional search is the result of having information or reason to believe that there's something we should find or get our hands on ASAP,” Wehrle said.
The lockdown, she added, was put in effect because there was reason to believe the items were a threat to safety and security within the facility.
Whether or not the inmates found with the unauthorized item will face some kind of punishment would not be determined until the results of the search were submitted to Correctional Services Canada's regional office, Wehrle said.
During the course of the lockdown, no visitors were allowed inside the facility and inmates were fed in their cells.
