Court hears details behind drug trafficking at PA Penitentiary

The Crown prosecutor and Spence’s defense counsel called on four witnesses total on Friday.

Crown witness, Nikki Valmont, currently works in the same position Spence was in when she was arrested. Valmont did not work with the aboriginal Pathways healing unit at the same time as Spence.

Valmont described her goal as an employee is to work with elders and offenders to make them more whole people, she said in her testimony.

The medium-security Pathways unit has up to 40 beds for offenders that are willing to work with elders on a close basis, Valmont said. This holistic program involves no alcohol or other controlled substances.

Within the program, there is a significant interaction between offenders and staff, she testified.

Valmont detailed some of the more in-depth training she has done with her position. She explained that an offender can overhear a little detail about a staff member’s personal life and use that to create a personal connection.

They can then use that friendliness to ask for favours, small at first but expanding.

However, she insisted that in her position “although I do get to know you, we keep that personal distance.”

Doyle Ironstand, another Crown witness, spoke about a training program he delivers at the Penitentiary.

Spence attended the one-day training called “Anatomy of a Setup” in 2011. The training exists because staff in the Correctional Services of Canada are in “constant danger of being manipulated by inmates,” Ironstand testified.

This is particularly true of new staff and with non-security staff because they do not have a defined relationship with the offenders, he said. He conceded to defense counsel Peter Abrametz Jr. that Spence fit into both categories.

Abramatz also asked Ironstand if corrections was a good environment for someone who is malleable or seeks to please others, to which he responded “you need to be tough” to work in the institution.

Most of the questions Crown prosecutor Caroline Andriashek directed at witnesses revolved around the training that did occur and the effect of drugs within the prison system.

Valmont shared that a man in her case load had committed manslaughter four times, all while under the influence.

She said in a volatile situation like prison, “it’s hard enough as it is without adding something that can alter their state of mind.”

Testimony from Glen Frank, the third Crown witness, revolved around security and drugs. As a security intelligence officer, he said there are numerous concerns that drugs bring up.

The first is its illegality, and the second being the value of drugs increasing up to 10 times behind the prison walls. This can cause offenders to incur debts and increase assaults. He added that people can be violent while under the influence. He had seen two prisoners overdose in the past two months.

However, both were self-admitted to be from heroine and methamphetamine.

Closing arguments

In closing arguments, Abrametz detailed over three factors that made Spence vulnerable to being manipulated by offenders within the institution.

The close interaction was one of them. Others included her being fresh to the correctional environment as a new employee, limited training, and her emotional state.

Abrametz detailed an ectopic pregnancy Spence went through that he said left her even more emotionally vulnerable to being manipulated by prisoners.

He drew on testimony from psychiatrist Terry Nicholaichuk, who performed a psychological assessment on Spence in December of 2013. He said it’s not possible from that to relate her state at that time to her mental state when she was arrested.

He testified she was naïve, troubled, and may have an “inordinate need for affection.”

“People like this can be hooked liked trout and reeled in easily,” Nicholaichuk said, adding a person with Spence’s emotional instability working in the correctional setting was a “recipe for disaster.”

Nicholaichuk also testified that in his assessment, Spence told him the offender she was trafficking for treated her as a friend, and said he would be stabbed if she didn't help him.

This friendly offender, according to Abrametz, told Spence the substances she had were tobacco. When she received the packages she put them in her purse without looking, Abrametz said, adding “she was lied to and she didn’t want to know the truth.”

Meanwhile, Andriashek argued that she couldn’t see how someone could confuse tobacco with cocaine and marijuana. She pointed out that Spence’s position of trust made her choice incredibly poor.

In his closing argument, Abrametz said “we’ve heard today that the Penitentiary can be a dangerous place to work, not because of Danielle Spence or a minimal amount of marijuana.”

He added Spence had no criminal record, lost her dream job, and her liberty and family were in jeopardy as a result of this case.

“The point I’m making is, never has someone paid such a high price for so little,” Abrametz said.

He said she was no longer a risk as she wouldn’t be working back in a correctional setting again.

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk

by Chelsea Laskowski

Court hears details behind drug trafficking at PA Penitentiary

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