Staff are searching living units in the institution's medium security facility, she added, and a number of inmates were found with the same item.
Several inmates at the Bowden Institution could face discipline as an "exceptional search" of the facility turned up a number of "unauthorized items," the institution’s assistant warden of management services said.
Rita Wehrle said the institution was put on lockdown at 11 a.m. on June 25 and the search began at 12:30 p.m.
The search was still underway on the afternoon of June 26.
"We felt that we should lock down and do a full search and ensure that there was no more of these items in population."
Staff are searching living units in the institution’s medium security facility, she added, and a number of inmates were found with the same item.
The current population of the medium security facility, which does not include the annex, is 550.
The facility’s capacity is 544 inmates.
Although Wehrle would not disclose what the unauthorized item is, she said it is not authorized on "property cards" that indicate what items an inmate is allowed to have in his cell.
An exceptional search is conducted when institution staff become aware of a potential problem within the facility.
"Unlike a routine search, which is something that we do on a routine basis because it’s part of our policy to search the institution on an ongoing basis, an exceptional search is the result of having information or reason to believe that there’s something we should find or get our hands on ASAP," Wehrle said.
She added she expected the search to be completed before the end of the day on June 26 and the lockdown would stay in effect until that time.
As to whether or not the inmates found with the unauthorized item will face some kind of punishment, Wehrle said institution staff will not make a decision about disciplinary actions until the search ends.
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