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Canadian corrections denies bugging employee staff lounge at jail

Official: The listening device was a prototype for a new intercom system intended to keep the facility safer

By C1 Staff

SASKATCHEWAN, Canada — Correctional staff are reeling and demanding answers after a microphone was found inside of a smoke detector in a staff lounge area.

CBC News reports that the acting director of Saskatoon Correctional Center claimed the listening device was a prototype for a new intercom system intended to keep the facility safer.

If it were actually used, it would be placed in inmate living areas. The testing, however, had to be done elsewhere.

“It was not installed as a means in which to covertly listen to staff conversations. For anyone to covertly listen or intercept private communications would require legal authority to do so,” Jock McDowell said.

The device was designed to look like a smoke detector to discourage inmates to tamper with it.

The union says this has further strained staff-management relations.

McDowell claims the microphone was not working at the time it was found, having been disconnected after a short testing period. He says it should have been taken down at that point.

He also said a sign should have been posted to indicate its presence and says no recordings were made with the microphone.

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