Springhill prison sees $1.15M in contraband seizures in May

Patches are seen on the arm and shoulder of a corrections officer in the segregation unit at the Fraser Valley Institution for Women during a media tour, in Abbotsford, B.C., on Thursday October 26, 2017. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

Contraband seizures kept prison staff busy at Nova Scotia’s Springhill Institution last month.

Multiple packages containing contraband and unauthorized items ranging from hard drugs to SD cards were found and seized.

In a release Friday, Correctional Service Canada (CSC) says the value of the seizures at the medium security federal institution totalled $1,150,000.

CSC says it is heightening measures to prevent contraband from entering its institutions in order to help ensure a safe and secure environment.

As part of initiatives to stop drugs from getting in, ion scanners and drug-detector dogs are in use to search buildings, personal property, inmates, and visitors.

In addition to possible criminal charges, anyone caught trying to smuggle contraband into an institution may cause the inmate to lose visiting privileges.

The Springhill Institution is located in the Cumberland County community it is named after.

It’s about 180 kilometres from Halifax and close to 95 kilometres from Moncton, N.B.

The institution opened on October 1967 as a medium-security prison.

The CSC-administered facility has a capacity of 636 inmates.

Smuggling contraband into prisons is not a new phenomenon by any stretch.

In September of last year, the CSC reported the seizure of marijuana, hash, tobacco, cigars and rolling papers worth $32,500 at the Springhill Institution.

For More Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.