Drugs behind the walls is a problem

The question of why possession of a half ounce of marijuana leads to being remanded at Hattieville is a legitimate concern that we’ll leave for another day…but suffice to say that, like in the larger society, drugs in Hattieville prisons are a fact of life. This morning a security detail discovered three parcels of compressed weed lying just outside the compound.

Errol Gentle, Superintendent of Prisons

“We have an ongoing fight. And as you can see, the prison is porous, it’s wide, it’s open. Although we have twenty-foot chain link walls, things get in very easily. Because they know it is very difficult for them to bring it through the main entrance, you’ll find that they bring the drugs and they put it in a hiding spot and then somebody tries to get it in and get it over the walls.”

The weed weighed in at around a pound and a half. No one has yet been arrested. Several weeks ago a junior prison officer was turned over to police after he was caught smuggling drugs into the compound.