70% of inmates are drug addicts as prison officials launch crackdown on narcotics behind bars
Authorities have begun to implement a full programme of random and intelligence-led testing in Irish prisons
by John Kierans · Irish MirrorA huge 70 per cent of prisoners in Irish jails are drug addicts, it has emerged.
The revelation was made by Justice Minister Helen McEntee as she told how a new crackdown on narcotics behind bars by the Irish Prison Service is fully under way.
Since the beginning of this year the authorities have implemented a full programme of random and intelligence-led testing.
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More than 150 prison staff have completed training with a new supplier and weekly targets for minimum drug testing have been agreed.
The minister said on-site testing can detect a range of drugs with instant results supported by secondary laboratory testing where the initial result is inconclusive.
Prison staff were also targeting more harmful synthetic drugs like opioids which it is suspected resulted in the tragic deaths of a handful of inmates in recent months.
These included one prisoner in Cork and another in Mountjoy. A full inquest in either case has yet to be heard.
Ten others were also rushed to hospital last August from Portlaoise Prison with suspected drugs overdose after taken the opioid Nitazane.
Ms McEntee said: “Preventing contraband into prisons continues to be a high priority.
“It is estimated that up to 70 per cent of the people in custody have addiction issues and the reality is that those with active addiction continue their drug- seeking behaviour inside prison notwithstanding the supports that are available to address their addiction.
“The IPS is always alert to the dangers posed by illicit substances within the prison environment as well as using technological, structural, intelligence and more routine operational methods to prevent contraband entering prisons.”
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