Major crackdown fails to curb drug scourge in jails
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THE country's major jails are still awash with narcotics five years after the Government committed to making the prison system drug free.
Inmates tested positive for drugs a startling 46,500 times in the past two years, documents obtained by the Irish Independent reveal.
The scale of the drugs scourge is illustrated by the fact the national prison population ranged from 3,200 to 3,800 during the same period.
The tests indicate opiates, such as heroin, prescription drugs known as benzodiazepines, and cannabis are the most commonly abused in Irish prisons, with the numbers of inmates testing positive for cocaine and amphetamines much smaller by comparison.
Figures contained in a report released under the Freedom of Information Act show only a slight decline in the proportion of prisoners testing positive for drugs between 2007 and 2008, despite an unprecedented crackdown.
At the same time only 50 inmates successfully completed drug rehabilitation treatment programmes last year.
The revelations come as the Prison Service struggles to cope with an overcrowding crisis and uncertainty remains over the future of the delayed Thornton Hall prison complex, which is due to replace Mountjoy.
Smugglers
The results of the drugs tests conducted by the Prison Service indicate that smugglers have found ways to circumvent a whole raft of procedures put in place over the past year to limit the supply to inmates.
The crackdown, which has included the introduction of X-ray scanners and the increased used of sniffer dogs and searches, has yet to stem the flow of illegal drugs.
The worst-affected facilities were Mountjoy's main prison, Cloverhill Prison and Wheatfield Prison.
In Mountjoy there were some 2,112 positive tests for opiates last year. Detection of benzodiazepines, such as Valium and Mogadon, was also high, at 1,871 positive tests, while there were a further 1,860 positive results for cannabis.
In many cases prisoners had more than one drug in their bloodstream when tested.
Only one of the State's 14 prisons, Arbour Hill in Dublin, was considered drug free last year.
The tests were conducted as part of the Government's drug-free prisons policy, which the then Justice Minister Michael McDowell said in 2004 would aim to rid jails of drugs within a year.
However, throughout the prison system in 2008 there were 7,309 positive test results for opiates, including heroin. Some 7,480 urine tests came back positive for benzodiazepines, 6,104 for cannabis, 675 for cocaine, and 96 for amphetamines.
The figures were down only slightly on 2007 when there were 8,571 positive tests for opiates, 7,858 for benzodiazepines, 7,734 for cannabis, 569 for cocaine and 177 for amphetamines. Roughly the same amount of testing was conducted in each of the two years.
The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) said that while the Prison Service had taken "huge steps" in dealing with the problem, overcrowding was severely hampering their efforts.
IPRT executive director Liam Herrick said: "It is very hard for prisoners who want to stay drug free to do so when they have to share a cell with six other people in Mountjoy."
Last night the Prison Service defended its record and said the enhanced security measures had a major impact on the amount of contraband being intercepted. It also said positive drug test results were so high because the majority of testing was targeted at prisoners suspected of drug use.
"Many prisoners provide regular samples for urine analysis and so multiple drugs tests can be carried out on one individual prisoner throughout the year," it said in a statement.
A Prison Service spokesman added that dedicated search teams had proved very successful since being introduced in May last year. Since then there have been 752 drug seizures, 820 phones seized and 904 weapons confiscated.
- Shane Phelan Investigative Correspondent
