THERE HAVE been almost as many drug seizures in Mountjoy Prison over the past two years as the rest of the jails in the Republic combined. This is despite a so-called drug-free regime operating in the Dublin jail.
Drug seizures in Mountjoy are now set to reach a record level of more than 700 this year.
New figures from the Department of Justice reveal that since the beginning of last year illegal drugs have been seized in Mountjoy 1,074 times. This compares with 1,398 seizures in the other 13 prisons in the Republic combined.
Mountjoy now accounts for 45 per cent of all drug seizures in Irish jails.
Executive director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust, Liam Herrick said the figures confirmed the extent of the drugs culture in Mountjoy. Overcrowding there made it virtually impossible to stop drug smuggling or to help inmates stay off drugs. "It is almost impossible to manage Mountjoy given the chronic level of overcrowding," he said.
The increase in drug seizures across the prison system is being attributed to the intensified searching regime which was officially launched in May 2008.
Support teams have received special search training and also have specialised equipment, such as tiny cameras that can be lowered between floorboards or into other hard to reach hiding places to check for drugs.
While most of the seizures are made inside prisons, many are recorded in visiting areas. Up to 30 sniffer dogs at jails across the Republic check visitors who may be intending to pass contraband to inmates during visiting hours.
Under the new search regime the Irish Prison Service has also installed eight new devices that can detect internally concealed drugs. The body orifice security scanner chairs, known as Boss, were first installed early in 2008.
From the May 2008 launch of the new search regime - known as Operation Support Group - to the end of 2008, some 351 drug seizures were made across the prison system. During the new search regime's first full year of operation last year the number of seizures increased significantly to 1,293.
This year looks certain to see another record, with 1,179 seizures made to September 12th. If those trends continue to the end of the year, the prison service will have seized drugs on a record estimated 1,500 occasions.
The figures, released to Joe Carey TD (FG) in a Dáil question, indicate Mountjoy has by far the worst drugs problem of any jail.
Last year there were 547 seizures in the north Dublin prison, compared to 167 in Wheatfield Prison in west Dublin, which had the next highest number. No other prison in the system recorded more than 100 seizures last year.
This year Mountjoy has again recorded by far the highest number of seizures, with staff finding drugs 527 times in the period to September 12th.
St Patrick's Institution, the young offenders' jail in the Mountjoy complex, has seen the second highest number of seizures, at 137 cases, to September 12th compared with 92 seizures in all of last year.
Limerick Prison was the next worst, with 119 seizures to September 12th, compared to 75 in all of last year. If current trends continue at Limerick Prison and in St Patrick's for the rest of the year, total seizures will double compared to levels witnessed last year.
Overall, there were 1,293 seizures across the prison system last year, with 1,179 this year to September 12th.
Arbour Hill was the only jail where no drugs were found this year or last. The prison houses sex offenders who, unlike the wider prison population, do not normally have a drugs problem.