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GANG CULTURE in prisons is growing faster than at any time in the past decade, with over 1,000 inmates now being held in segregation to keep rival gang members apart, the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has said.

The POA wants mace spray to be introduced so officers can deal more effectively with “vicious” gang violence. The association said many of the biggest and most notorious gangs in the Republic whose members are in jail are now using low security inmates to smuggle in drugs for them because they believe they are “under the radar” of prison staff checking for drugs.