Prison staff held as phones found

PRISON staff intend to meet with jail chiefs following the arrest of three guards over the smuggling of phones and drugs.

Three male prison officers were arrested yesterday. They are suspected of smuggling mobile phones into prisons to help jailed crime bosses control their gangs.

They were questioned after searches for phones and drugs involving three prisons.

The crackdown follows the recent introduction of harsher laws against the smuggling of phone devices inside jail walls, as well as the discovery of 26 phones in Limerick Prison.

The Prison Officers Association (POA) said it was “deeply concerned” about the developments.

“We trust that the garda investigation will uncover the full facts in this matter,” said deputy general secretary Eugene Dennehy.”

“It would be extremely regrettable if a small number of officers, out of thousands, acted outside of the law.”

The POA is now seeking an urgent meeting with prison service chiefs over staff security clearance as well as the vetting of new employees.

Gardaí described the arrests as part of an “ongoing operation”. It is understood inquiries began last year after anonymous information was passed to gardaí.

A spokeswoman said the three officers were in custody in connection with the offence of bringing in “illicit goods” into a prison.

Two of the staff were being held in Newbridge and Naas garda stations while a third was in a Dublin station. One had already been suspended after phones were found in an office drawer.

Five staff — four male and one female — and their lockers were searched.

One was a senior prison officer.

Detectives, including members of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, searched four lockers in Wheatfield Prison as well as others in Mountjoy. A further search of one staff member’s locker was carried out at Cloverhill Prison.

The Prison Service said it would conduct its own investigation.

The arrests come after Tánaiste and Justice Minister Michael McDowell last week conceded there was a serious problem with crime bosses directing gangs from inside prisons.

In an amendment to the Prisons Bill, prisoners found in possession of a mobile telephone device face up to five years’ additional jail time.

Prisoner Service director general Brian Purcell believes the prevention of mobile phones for prisoners is a “matter of urgency”.