Inmates were put in hospital after taking homemade benzos which were thrown into a prison yard this week, it has emerged.
The Irish Prison Service says drug use has soared once more following the pandemic as it works on strategies to combat the issue. Its Director General Caron McCaffrey says the IPS estimates that around 40% of people admitted to jail have drugs concealed internally.
And 70% of lags have an “active” addiction. They are looking at new technology to help fight that such as an X-Ray scanner system which would show if someone has drugs concealed internally.
Read more: Man arrested in connection with killing of Eddie Hutch
But traditional methods of throwing them over the fence into prison yards is also continuing. Sources say copper pipes are being used with the drugs put into one side so when it’s thrown on to the net, it’s weighted and slips through the net and into the yard. Tennis balls are also used in different incidents.
This week at Cloverhill Prison, seven inmates took benzos which had been thrown into the yard. Three of them were taken to hospital where one remains gravely ill.
Speaking at the Prison Officers Association’s Conference in Galway yesterday, Ms McCaffrey said: “What we saw during Covid, because we were quarantining new committals, was a vast reduction in the number of drugs available within our prisons.
“And now what we’re seeing regrettably, is an increase in the number of drugs within our prisons just this week in Cloverhill Prison. So we have people coming in who have drugs concealed internally, but also we’re seeing a reversion I suppose to what we would have seen as traditional routes of getting drugs into prison, which is the throwing of drugs over yards.
"So this week in Cloverhill Prison we had drugs thrown over into the yard. They were ingested by prisoners, seven prisoners became very unwell.
"Three had to be hospitalised. And as we speak today, one is intubated.”
Ms McCaffrey explained how it highlights how dangerous such incidents are for prisoner’s health because they have no idea of what’s in the drugs. She added: “But they’ve consumed them because they have active addictions.” The Director says they are working on a new drug strategy with one aspect of it introducing X-ray scanners and also peer-led recovery programs.
The POA says assaults are soaring, with a 63% increase in staff injuries. Attacks on officers have jumped by 46% between 2021 and 2022, from 91 to 134.
Prisoner-on-prisoner assaults have increased dramatically from 249 to 380 over the same period, an increase of 52%. It’s estimated 60% of people in custody have a personality disorder. At the moment, 17 men and one woman in prison are waiting to be admitted to the Central Mental Hospital.
Four of the men on the list need to be “barrier handled”. Ms McCaffrey explained: “It means that you’re managed by staff in full riot gear, which is because of the level of threat that’s posed to staff managing those people.
“The reality is those people are gravely unwell. They’re psychotic, they shouldn’t be in a custodial setting, we can’t provide them with the treatment that is needed to get better.”
READ NEXT:
- Ringsend British Empire post box removed after repeated colostomy bag attacks
- Man who cleaned 'house of horrors' where Keane Mulready-Woods was murdered set to be released
- 'My gang is bigger than their gang' - Garda Commissioner warns Hutch mob
Man seriously injured after bike and car crash outside St James' Hospital
Onlookers baffled as Ballymun battle breaks out over bike dispute
Sign up to the Dublin Live Newsletter to get all the latest Dublin news straight to your inbox.
