Prison officer gets five years for smuggling
Thomas Corry, 52, of Aughrim, Scariff, Co Clare, pleaded guilty to four charges of having cocaine, cannabis resin and prescription drugs with total value €2,053 for sale or supply.
He was found with the drugs and other contraband when he was stopped near the prison before he was due to start a night shift on March 16, 2009.
On the evening of hisarrest, a carrier bag found in his car contained the drugs and a large quantity of other contraband which included 31 mobile phones, 34 phone chargers, 22 sets of blue-tooth headsets, 90razor blades, six razor handles, a penknife, screwdriver, and two litres of alcohol.
Passing sentence Judge Ray Fullam said Corry had participated in planned, premeditated criminal activity with the potential to destroy life.
Judge Fullam added: “He acted corruptly and perverted his function as a prison officer and undermined the security of Limerick prison.”
Corry with almost 30 years service, and who served as president of hislocal rugby club in Scariff, admitted smuggling contraband into the prison over a five-year period, having identified flaws in the security system.
Garda Monica O’Reilly told state prosecutor, John O’Sullivan she received confidential information the accused planned to smuggle drugs into the prison when he was due to start work at 8pm on March 16, 2009.
As Corry drove along Roxboro Road towards the prison he was stopped at a garda check point set up near the back entrance gate.
Garda O’Reilly and Garda Deirdre Foley approached Corry and found a carrier bag in the front passenger seat of his car.
It contained the contraband and €400 in cash which was Corry’s payment for agreeing to bring in the goods.
When questioned at Roxboro Road Garda Station Corry said he was bringing the contraband into the prison as he had done previously, having got a phone call.
He told gardaí: “When you get the call you get the call.”
He had picked up the bag from another man when they met at Park Road. He usually got €50 or €100 for similar errands and the €400 he got that day was the biggest.
He informed gardaí that mobile phones were the most desired contraband sought by prisoners and cannabis was also popular. It was better to pull with the prisoners than against them, he told gardaí.
Corry also claimed to gardaí he had certain difficulties in his relationships with colleagues and as a result befriended prisoners. He began to liaise too much with prisoners and fell by the wayside smuggling about three or four times a year.
While he knew sometimes what he was smuggling, other times he preferred to turn a blind eye to what he was bringing into the prison, he said.
While there was no intimidation when he started to smuggle into the prison, about three years ago prisoners began to mention his son and an assault on him in the city. This made him feel more vulnerable because he then began to feel 100% under their control, he claimed.
Garda O’Reilly said Corr outlined in detail certain flaws in the prison security system which enabled him to carry on his smuggling. Most of the time, he would hand over the smuggled goods to a prisoner, other times he would hide it where a prisoner would pick it up. He used the money he earned for cigarettes and buying diesel.
On the evening of his arrest, there was so much stuff in the carrier bag he had decided to bring it in bit by bit if he could not get it in all at the one time.
Garda O’Reilly in reply to Anthony Sammon, for the defence, said Corry only began to fear getting caught when security got tighter. There was an amalgamation of fear of getting caught and the people he was dealing with.
Garda O’Reilly said Corry co-operated and wanted to tell them the totality of his wrongdoing after his arrest.
Character evidence was given by Barry Gibbons who told of Corry’s work with young players at Scariff rugby club where the accused had served as club president.
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