Government ‘turns blind eye to prison drugs’

MINISTERS are turning a blind eye to hard drug abuse in prison because it keeps inmates pacified, Labour last night claimed.

Party leader Eamon Gilmore made the charge as he attacked “lax” Government attitudes to the availability of class A substances in state jails.

Mr Gilmore highlighted the Irish Examiner’s exposure of prison officers’ despair that they have no powers to arrest visitors found attempting to smuggle heroin and other hard drugs behind bars.