The Quebec government is introducing new rules to stop contraband from entering its prisons.

A 12-month test will make prisoners at the Roberval Detention Centre wear uniforms. The test starts in September.

Not letting prisoners wear their own clothes will make it easier to search them and stop them from showing gang signs, which can lead to violence.

Right now, prisoners in Quebec wear their own clothes.

Isabelle Mailloux says this has caused problems because prisoners have used their clothes to smuggle in illegal items like drugs.

Most of the time, the drugs are hidden in the seams of clothes or in shoes. Sometimes, they are harder to find.

Prisoners try to bring in drugs by soaking their clothes in them. They use many different methods.

Quebec is taking steps to stop drones from bringing drugs into prisons.

A security company in Montreal might get more business from the US because of its immigration policies.

Mailloux says the test is part of a bigger effort to improve security in Quebec's prisons, which the government spent $35 million on in 2023.

The uniform will include simple, comfortable clothes like t-shirts, sweatshirts, and pants.

The government chose the Roberval facility for the test because it has a sewing workshop where prisoners can make their own pants.

Quebec's Domestic Security Minister Ian Lafrenière says the plan helps prisoners by giving them jobs.

Nine other provinces and one territory, along with Correctional Service Canada, already make prisoners wear uniforms.

The government will decide if it will make all prisoners in Quebec wear uniforms based on the results of the test.

The government is also making stricter rules for prisoners who misbehave.

New rules will let staff report more kinds of bad behavior, including using drones to bring in contraband.

Mailloux says drones are a big problem that the government has been trying to fix for years.

Between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026, 1,521 drones were seen at Quebec's prisons. There were 234 drone sightings from April to June this year.

Mailloux says the problem with drones is not just in Canada, but all over the world, and prisoners are always finding new ways to use them.

Prisoners who misbehave seriously, like by smuggling in a phone, might get harsher punishments.

Those punishments could include doing community service, not being able to buy things from the prison store, or being isolated for longer.

The government says the new punishments will consider the prisoners' physical and mental health.