Just 213 jail drug finds recorded in five years

ONLY 213 incidents of supplying drugs and possession of illegal substances behind bars have been identified by gardaí over the past five years, new figures reveal.

Despite a damning report this week which concluded that the scourge of drugs in Irish prisons was “possibly worse than it has ever been”, data obtained by the Irish Examiner shows only a small number of illegal drug incidents in jails recorded by gardaí.

According to the Central Statistic Office (CSO) figures, four types of “drug incidents” are recorded in jails.

The CSO receives figures from gardaí for all the State’s prisons relating to incidents of simple possession, possession of drugs for sale or supply, cultivation of drugs and the importation of drugs.

No incidents of the cultivation or the importation of drugs in prisons were recorded by gardaí from 2003 to the end of 2007, the latest period for which CSO figures are available.

Only criminal incidents in two categories involving illegal substances were noted. Over the five-year period, there were just 43 incidents of simple drug possession in prisons where gardaí became involved.

In the same period, gardaí were involved in investigating just 170 incidents in jails involving possession of drugs for sale or supply.

In both categories, the CSO said “drug incidents” could have involved not only inmates, but staff or visitors. The CSO said yesterday the drug incidents passed on by gardaí for the five-year period had involved the full range of illegal substance types including heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis.

It could not for “sensitive” prison operational reasons, reveal the amounts or types of drugs involved in each incident or where and in which prison the drug incidents had taken place.

The figures, the first of their kind, far from reveal the full extent of drug taking or drug incidents behind bars, it was claimed yesterday.

Criminologist Paul O’Mahony, the author of this week’s critical report on drug policies in prisons, argued the CSO and Garda figures seriously underrepresented the extent of illegal substance activity in jails.

“If you use gardaí in drug cases in prisons, it takes time. Case numbers are bound to be constrained. They make an example of people. It is a tiny fraction of the actual (drug) events.

“It is tokenism, it is optics, an attempt to deter drugs in prisons by prosecuting a few,” said Mr O’Mahony.