1,290 drug seizures in jails last year

PLEDGES by the Government to remove the scourge of drugs from jails have been ridiculed with figures revealing there were 1,293 drug seizures in prisons last year.

Almost half the drug finds and seizures were made in Mountjoy Prison, the country’s largest jail.

Pressure has increased on the Justice Minister to roll out strict restrictions in jails including no-contact screened visits for known addicts. Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan said a prisoner who enters prison as an addict has no chance of being rehabilitated and will be back inside having reoffended in order to feed the habit.