Report finds some prison officers 'turning a blind eye' to gang activities in jail

The Prison Service is being blamed for the growth of criminal gangs in jails.

A new report has found the Irish Prison Service has no clear strategy for dealing with gangs in our jails.

The assessment from Inspector of Prisons Judge Michael Reilly says some staff are turning a blind eye to gang activities.

It also says it is the victims of such gang violence who get transferred to other prisons rather than the service dealing with the perpetrators.

Judge Reilly says a change in training and work practices is needed.

He said: "A culture has grown up, because they are closed institutions and because people, when they go into the prison service, they start at the bottom and they work their way up and some could become governors.

"And then practices that I suppose wouldn't be acceptable elsewhere become the norm, not the norm for everybody."

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald says she wants to hear more from the Prison Service.

She said: "I have asked the Director General of the Prison Service for a comprehensive report on the issue.

"Of course I would be concerned, there is no place for gang culture.

"What we have in this report and the thrust of this report, which obviously discusses gang culture in prisons, the thrust is about the structural and the cultural changes that we need to make in our prisons."