Amount of contraband seized in jails falls

The overall amount of contraband seized in Irish prisons last year dropped slightly — and there has been a significant decline in the amount of weapons found in jails.

Figures provided by the Irish Prison Service also show almost 100 fewer cases of drugs being found in jails in 2016 compared with the previous year, alongside a fall for the sixth consecutive year of visitors to prisons and a steady decline in the number of people arrested for allegedly trying to get contraband into prisons.

Last year 107 people were arrested in connection with contraband seizures, down from 128 arrests in 2015. The number of arrests last year is also around half of those made as recently as 2013, while the comparable figure in 2011 was 283 arrests.