Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations (SOR/92-620)

53. Where an emergency occurs and the institutional head believes on reasonable grounds that contraband or evidence that relates to the emergency is located in the cells, the institutional head may authorize a search of cells and their contents by a staff member.

• 54. (1) A staff member may conduct a routine non-intrusive search or a routine frisk search of a visitor, without individualized suspicion, where the visitor is entering or leaving the penitentiary.

• (2) If a visitor refuses to undergo a search referred to in subsection (1), the institutional head or a staff member designated by the institutional head may

  • (a) prohibit a contact visit with an inmate and authorize a non-contact visit; or

  • (b) require the visitor to leave the penitentiary forthwith.

• 55. (1) A staff member may, by stopping a vehicle and inspecting the vehicle and its contents, conduct a routine search of a vehicle, without individualized suspicion, where

  • (a) the vehicle is entering or leaving penitentiary property;

  • (b) the vehicle is entering or leaving a secure area on penitentiary property;

  • (c) the vehicle is in an area on penitentiary property to which access is restricted or prohibited; or

  • (d) the vehicle is on penitentiary property at a time when visitors are not normally permitted to be at the penitentiary.

• (2) Where an emergency occurs and the institutional head believes on reasonable grounds that contraband or evidence that relates to the emergency is located in a vehicle on penitentiary property, the institutional head may authorize a search of the vehicle and its contents by a staff member.

56. A staff member may conduct a routine non-intrusive search or a routine frisk search of another staff member, without individualized suspicion, where that other staff member is entering or leaving the penitentiary.

57. Where a staff member or other authorized person seizes an item during a search conducted pursuant to any of sections 47 to 64 of the Act, the staff member or authorized person shall, as soon as practicable,

• (a) issue a receipt to the person from whom the item is seized; and

• (b) submit the item to the institutional head or a staff member designated by the institutional head or, in the case of a seizure pursuant to subsection 66(2) of the Act, to the person in charge of the community-based residential facility.

• 58. (1) A person who conducts a search pursuant to any of sections 47 to 64 of the Act shall prepare and submit to the institutional head or a staff member designated by the institutional head, as soon as practicable and in accordance with subsection (4), a post-search report respecting the search where

  • (a) the search is a non-routine strip search conducted pursuant to any of subsections 49(3) and (4) and 60(2) and (3) and paragraph 64(1)(b) of the Act;

  • (b) the search is a search conducted pursuant to section 51 or 52 of the Act;

  • (c) the search is a routine strip search in which force was used;

  • (d) the search is an emergency search of an inmate, a vehicle or a cell; or

  • (e) the staff member or other authorized person seizes an item in the course of the search.

• (2) Every employee of a community-based residential facility who conducts a search pursuant to section 66 of the Act shall prepare and submit to the person in charge of the facility, as soon as practicable and in accordance with subsection (4), a post-search report respecting the search.

• (3) Every institutional head who authorizes a search of all inmates pursuant to section 53 of the Act shall prepare and submit to the head of the region, as soon as practicable and in accordance with subsection (4), a post-search report respecting the search.

• (4) A post-search report shall be in writing and shall contain

  • (a) the date, time and place of the search;

  • (b) a description of every item seized;

  • (c) the name of the person searched, the number of the room or cell that was searched or the licence number of the vehicle searched, as applicable;

  • (d) the name of every person conducting the search and, where applicable, the name of every person present during the search;

  • (e) the reasons for the search;

  • (f) the manner in which the search was conducted; and

  • (g) in the case of a post-search report referred to in subsection (3), the facts that led the institutional head to believe that the presence of contraband constituted a clear and substantial danger to human life or safety or to the security of the penitentiary, and an indication of whether the danger was averted.

• (5) Every person to whom a search relates, or from whom any item is seized in the course of a search referred to in subsection (1) or (2), shall have access, on request, to the post-search report respecting the search or seizure.

• (6) Every post-search report shall be retained for a period of at least two years after the date of the search to which it relates.