Drug Scan, Child Access Linked in Inappropriate Disclosure

This case involves a complaint from a woman who tested positive for traces an illicit drug during ion scans carried out when she visited an inmate in a federal penitentiary.

The woman's ex-husband was a Correctional Service of Canada employee. His lawyer informed the woman that - in light of several positive drug tests - her ex-husband would no longer allow access to their children "due to his concerns over their safety and well-being."

The woman complained to the acting warden about the apparent inappropriate disclosure of her personal information. Several months later, the inmate she had visited was informed by the acting warden that two Correctional Service of Canada employees had inappropriately accessed his personal information in key databanks.

The woman and the inmate believed that the ex-husband had obtained the drug scan information through this inappropriate access.

Correctional Service of Canada officials determined that the ex-husband had not taken part in the database intrusion, nor was there any evidence that the culpable employees had passed information to him. However, the Department didn't try to discover how the ex-husband had learned of the drug incidents.

Our investigation determined that the existence of drug traces on the woman had indeed been disclosed to her ex-husband by other Correctional Service of Canada employees. We were unable to discover who had disclosed that personal information, or where the information came from.

We upheld the complaint as well founded and also concluded that the Correctional Service of Canada had failed to adequately deal with the core disclosure issue.