Albany woman Danika Burton, 39, narrowly avoids jail time after failed attempt to smuggle drugs into prison

An Albany woman who tried to smuggle opioids and cannabis into prison for her partner has narrowly avoided her own stint behind bars. Danika Burton, 39, faced Albany Magistrates Court on September 1 and pleaded guilty to attempting to supply 16 strips of buprenorphine and 2.14g of cannabis. Prosecutor Sgt Alan Dean told the court the offence occurred when Burton was visiting her partner of three years at Albany Regional Prison at 2.30pm on Sunday, November 21. The drugs were inside a balloon which was wrapped in another balloon and hidden down the front of her pants, Sgt Dean said. As the couple said their goodbyes, the drugs were transferred to the front of her partner’s pants. The exchange was seen by a prison officer and caught on security cameras inside the room. Burton’s defence lawyer said in the weeks before the offence, her partner had been asking her to bring drugs into the prison and she believed they were to be given to someone else. She said Burton was concerned for her partner’s welfare and thought he could be hurt or killed if he did not get the drugs. The court was told a few days before the offence, a woman Burton did not know came to her house and gave her a tightly wrapped package, which Burton smelled and thought was cannabis. “This is an isolated offence and out of character,” the defence lawyer said. Sgt Dean said Burton had put herself “in jeopardy of going to prison” and there needed to be a clear message that such actions “cannot be tolerated”. Magistrate Dianne Scaddan said she could accept the offence was an aberration for Burton. Ms Scaddan sentenced her to seven months in prison for attempting to supply the buprenorphine and four months for the cannabis. However, she suspended the sentence for 10 months. Buprenorphine is an opioid prescription drug prescribed as a replacement drug in treating heroin and methadone dependence, as well as to treat severe pain. It is a Schedule 8 substance with strict legislative controls on its use. In her sentencing remarks, Ms Scaddan said running a prison was “difficult enough” without people trying to bring drugs into jail. “One can only imagine the 16 strips of Schedule 8 poison had some form of currency in the prison system,” she said.