A drone successfully delivered a fast-food meal and alcohol to a cell window at the Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines prison in Quebec, highlighting significant security lapses at one of Canada’s most secure correctional facilities.
The incident occurred around 3:00 a.m. on October 15, allowing the inmate to retrieve the items directly through the bars of his cell window, according to reporting by dronpro.cz.
Correctional staff did not immediately detect the delivery because one or more security cameras monitoring the area were out of service, Novinky reported, citing information from the regional outlet TVA Nouvelles. The inmate, who was housed in the facility’s Special Handling Unit, was reportedly intoxicated when officers discovered the remnants of the meal during their morning rounds.
Mike Bolduc, a regional representative for the correctional officers’ union UCCO-SACC-CSN, said that the prisoner appeared amused by the successful smuggling attempt. “He was eating fries and found it very funny,” Bolduc told Novinky, noting that the inmate claimed he could have anything delivered to his cell. The union leader emphasized that the lack of detection is particularly concerning given the prison’s status as a high-security facility.
The facility in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, located approximately 55 kilometers north of Montreal, houses some of Canada’s most violent and high-risk offenders. The prison, built in 1984, holds approximately 90 inmates and is designated for the most dangerous prisoners.
Correctional Service Canada (CSC) acknowledged the incident but declined to provide specific details, citing an ongoing investigation and security protocols. In a general statement, the agency said that it employs a “multi-layered approach” to address contraband, including staff vigilance, intelligence gathering, and physical searches. However, the agency did not comment on the specific failure of the detection systems or the reported camera malfunction.
What is the next step? Will it be a loaded weapon? It truly scares us,” Bolduc told Le Parisien.
Data from the Correctional Service Canada indicates that drone-related incidents remain a persistent challenge, with 839 reported occurrences in the 2025/26 fiscal year. CSC reported 1,064 incidents in the 2024/25 fiscal year and 290 in the first half of 2024, with detection systems capturing 98% of drones.
While the agency reports that a vast majority of these flights are detected, the October 15 delivery shows how difficult it is to intercept small, agile devices. Bolduc believes that inmates send multiple drones simultaneously to find blind spots in security.
The struggle to secure prison perimeters against drone delivery is not unique to Canada. In the United Kingdom, the government recently announced a £35 million funding boost to install steel window bars across 17 high-risk prisons by 2027. This initiative follows reports of drone incidents recorded in England and Wales during the 2025/26 period, according to the HMPPS Annual Digest, which logged 1,712 incidents in the year to March 2025 and 1,497 in the year to March 2026.
Correctional Service Canada continues to investigate the specific circumstances of the Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines breach. No further details regarding the identity of the inmate or potential disciplinary actions have been made public as the investigation proceeds.
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