In one six-day span, nine inmates survived overdoses at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre.

One of those inmates overdosed twice.

Think about that.

Ten overdoses. In a place where it should be impossible to get drugs.

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS) confirmed nine inmates from the Barton Street jail were sent to hospital between March 28 and April 3. It would not specify why they were taken to hospital, but the ministry confirmation to The Spectator also included information about overdoses.

Correctional officer Sal Alkazely says there were 10 overdoses — most of which he suspects were caused by opioids — during that period. One of the inmates overdosed twice within a few days. By a miracle, nobody died.

"Thank God we have Naloxone," says Alkazely, referring to the opioid antidote.

Others have not been so lucky.

A super-inquest is underway right now, examining eight drug-related deaths at the jail in the hopes a jury will make recommendations to prevent any similar fatalities in the future.

The deaths of Louis Unelli, William Acheson, Trevor Burke, Marty Tykoliz, Stephen Neeson, David Gillan, Julien Walton and Peter McNelis are being examined by the presiding coroner. The men's deaths occurred from 2012 to 2015.

In response to a request for information about the recent spate of overdoses, Dorian Najdovski, press secretary for corrections minister Marie-France Lalonde, said: "As part of our Opioid Strategy, our government is taking action to prevent inmate overdoses and to treat addiction so that inmates can safely reintegrate into the community upon release from custody. Naloxone is available for use in all correctional facilities when an opioid overdose is suspected."

The Barton Street jail is a maximum security remand centre which cannot refuse anyone. The facility is often overcrowded and usually has between 400 and 500 inmates.

Alkazely, who started at the jail in 2004, works in the Admit and Discharge area. He is speaking out because he is concerned about the safety of inmates and the conditions under which they are kept.

He gets 50 to 70 inmates out the door for court appearances every day. And he does security checks, including full body scans (about 40 per 12-hour shift) and strip searches on all incoming prisoners.

The body scanner arrived at the jail in September 2016 and, after installation and training, was put into use beginning in early 2017, according to Alkazely.

The scanner is designed to detect drugs being "hooped" into the jail, smuggled in the anal or vaginal cavities of inmates. Kinder Surprise eggs filled with drugs and inserted in an inmate have been a notorious smuggling method in Canada. The inquest has also heard drugs are often concealed by being shaped to look like fecal matter, wrapped in carbon paper and hidden in the rectum in an effort to dupe the scanner.

Alkazely says the training he had with the scanner is woefully inadequate, and as a result, drugs sometimes still go undetected in inmates' bodies.

"They gave me an hour and a half to three hours of training and they expect me to be a radiologist," he says. "Is the scanner good enough? We didn't stop all the drugs coming into the jail."

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

If an inmate refuses to be scanned, they are put in a dry cell — where the toilet has no water — until they defecate for staff to see.

Alkazely says staff and inmates refer to the process as "The Sh** Show."

He says — and the inquest has heard — that inmates aren't the only possible route for drugs to take into the jail.

Correctional officers do not go through the security steps when they come and go from the institution, the inquest has learned.

And Alkazely — who is subpoenaed to testify at the inquest this week — says the jail has a scanner for parcels going in and out, but it has never been used. A scanner wouldn't work, though, for contraband being thrown over the detention centre wall into the inmates' yard, another popular way for drugs to get in, the inquest has heard.

He also points out that "we have volunteers and lawyers who come in every day."

The coroner's inquest is expected to last six weeks. For the sake of those eight men, their families, correctional officers and the thousands of other accused persons who are locked up at the Barton Street jail every year, let's hope a true picture of the drug issue emerges. Then the right questions can be raised, recommendations can be made and — let's hope — lives can be saved.

Susan Clairmont's commentary appears regularly in The Spectator. sclairmont@thespec.com

905-526-3539 | @susanclairmont

- Experts agree naloxone is central to fighting Canada's opioid crisis - but they also say it's not a 'wonder drug'

- Inquest offers rare look into workings of Barton Street jail

- Inmate health care gaps exposed at super inquest into Barton jail deaths