Just what is going on in our prisons? Ireland's inmates have tested positive for drug use 40,000 times over the past three years, and data released last week suggests that there has been absolutely no reduction in drug consumption in prisons since the launch of the Government's drug-free prison policy in 2006. As if all that were not bad enough, the data also indicates that the frequency with which drug testing is carried out has also fallen.

Even our Justice Minister admits the situation is dire, and he is quoted as saying that new figures on drug misuse by prison inmates painted "a very disturbing picture". The minister advises that since June 2007, electronic screening has been introduced and there has been an increase in staff helping to "rehabilitate" inmates.

Sorry, but it isn't working. Future plans include sniffer dogs and a "dedicated intelligence unit". One sincerely hopes these two innovations will operate separately.

Inmates are, in the main, getting their drug supply from visitors. Notwithstanding legislation passed last year, procedures in relation to prison visits are governed by Prison Rules drafted in 1947 -- a period of history when a pint of stout was thought to be a Class A drug. Astonishingly, prisoners can have up to four visitors at once -- is it any wonder chaos in the form of pass the parcel may ensue? The majority of visits are supposedly supervised in sight, though not in hearing, but this simply cannot be the case.

After all, just how are visitors managing to pass drugs to prisoners? One assumes there must be either scant or no supervision during prison visits or that a blind eye is being turned by prison officers.

The Irish public would also be curious to know how the search of prison officers is now going. Recently they were annoyed because they were cruelly expected to clock on a couple of minutes early so that such searches could be performed on them. Have any of them been caught with contraband and, if so, how many? Furthermore, what progress are any such cases making through the criminal justice system?

Even more importantly, Middle Ireland would be very interested to know what sanctions are in place for either visitors or prisoners caught with drugs. It is well known that prison officers do not routinely detain visitors when they are caught passing drugs to inmates, pending the arrival of the gardai. This is remarkable. Supplying drugs is a serious offence and yet how many arrests have been made by gardai of visitors supplying drugs in prison? Where do these drugs go? One assumes each prison can provide a list of drugs seized from visitors and information about what has been done with them.

In the open centres, which accommodate sentenced prisoners only, visits generally take place on a Saturday and Sunday, between certain hours. However, a visitor may stay for any length of time during the allocated visiting hours, thus allowing greater opportunities for passing drugs.

The rules also speak of "local procedures" peculiar to each institution that concern searches, persons allowed to visit, opening hours etc. In other words prisons, not Government, decide what goes on in their patch.

The reality is that drug use is rampant in our prisons. Period. Whatever statistics you care to throw about, we have a serious problem.

The real issue lies with the apparent resignation with which certain prison authorities appear to view the problem. John Lonergan of Mountjoy Prison speaks out frequently on the social reasons behind the drug- taking problem in prison. Surely, however, Mr Lonergan's only concern should be that of prisoners when they are in prison? How they got there can be the subject of philosophical debate by the plethora of bleeding heart groups up and down the country for which we are spoilt for choice.

Prison governors and management should focus on their own patch and begin a zero-drug tolerance programme -- an iron fist in an iron glove. The question is not why prisoners are taking drugs, but how are they getting them. It's not rocket science.

Worryingly, there is an underling theme running through the prison service pronouncements that prisoners are far better off taking drugs because it keeps them calm, and the vista on the other side is too grim. This is a scandal.

The 1947 regulations state that persons who breach prison discipline can be put on report and lose privileges. To murderers and drug dealers, this must sound very frightening. Privileges, incidentally, include visits, phone calls, evening recreation and/or remission. If I wanted a fix, I'm pretty sure curtailment of phone calls and evening recreation wouldn't exactly put me off.

If a prisoner is caught with drugs, give them solitary. Let them do cold turkey there and then. When they are ready to come out, haul them before the courts and let them add to their existing sentence -- not concurrently, but consecutively. If they are caught with drugs again for personal use or supply, solitary again for a longer period, then back to court. No pretty please, no two strikes and you're out, no sensitive rehabilitation programmes unless they go hand in hand with firm punishment.

Ireland's prisons are rampant with drugs because there is no governmental or prison authority willing to sort the problem out once and for all. Until prison governors stop seeing prisons as areas primarily of rehabilitation rather than punishment, this problem will never be resolved.

It's time the worm turned.

John O'Keeffe is Dean of Law School at Dublin Business School