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A SEARCH AT Mountjoy Prison has turned up 14 mobile phones and a large quantity of drugs.
The Prison Service says that a search of the C wing in the prison was undertaken as a part of the prison’s attempts to stop drug smuggling.
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A statement from the Irish Prison Service says:
“The Irish Prison Service can confirm that as part of security measures to prevent the supply of contraband in prisons a general search, conducted by the Operational Support Group, was undertaken in the C Wing of Mountjoy Prison.
“The search commenced at 7am this morning and was a planned intelligence led search.
“The operation included a search of all cells and common areas on the C Wing.
As a result of the search 14 mobile phones and phone chargers were discovered. In addition, drugs including tablets, heroin and cocaine were also discovered.
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Surely a quick sniffer dog patrol every day would root out a lot of the drugs. It’s probebly easier to leave drugs in to keep the peace. A PR search every now and again to keep the powers that be happy.
They should not have tv’s, radios and mobile phone signals should be blocked so even if they had a phone it would be useless.
The net over the yard to catch drugs should be doubled or trebled to reduce the amount that gets in.
Any one with a previous conviction should not be allowed make a visit.
They should have toilets instead of pots and they should have a course on life skills and courses they make being employed easier as prison is about reform not just locking people away.
I don’t understand prison drug trades. Presumably drugs are more expensive than on the street due to increased risks, and they ain’t cheap on the streets, so how do prisoners pay for them?
Quite simply they use there mobile to ring a loved one who meets some from the prisoner selling its family and pays them the agreed price….
Ecery week a tennies ball will be hit over the wall at an agreed time when prisoners are in the yard the risks are actually less yet again they agree this time by a mobile phone call
And still the Irish media treat John Lonergan as if he was some kind of wise visionary, rather than someone who benignly oversaw this tolerated drug den from start to finish during his term as governor.
I’m convinced there must be a genuine desire of the authorities to NOT address the drug problem (with the exception of PR smoke screens like today).
Preventing solid items from entering an enclosed and heavily guarded premises should not be as impossible as it appears to be in the Joy.
So are the criminals unbelievably clever? Or the guards unbelievably complicit?
Andrew its neither. It more a lack of resources. There are only 6 OSG staff on duty each day in Mountjoy. 3 of which work in the visitor search area and the other 3 are tasked with searching cells, listening in to prisoner phone calls and gathering intelligence. The other Staff in in Mountjoy are given approx 15- 20 mins per day to do a daily search of 2 Cells on each landing. Now its not just Prison Officers that work in Mountjoy there are several diffrent groups of civilian staff from Teachers, Psychologists, Dentists, Doctors, Pharmacists, Probation Officers, Delivery men and with all the renovation going on Contractors and their vehicles.
What you don’t hear about are the arrests on a daily basis of people being caught attempting to smuggle contraband. To make Mountjoy or any prison completely contraband free would require a massive boost in both manpower and resources both of which cost money. Money the Government are not prepared to spend and I a sure most Tax payers are not prepared to fund. So Officers do the best they can with one hand tied behind their back and one eye covered.
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