Irish Prison Service denies cameras found in staff locker rooms were used for covert surveillance 

Cameras were found by prison officers in the locker rooms in Castlerea and Cloverhill prisons in the last 10 days.

The Irish Prison Service (IPS) is denying that cameras found in staff locker rooms in two prisons recently were being used for covert surveillance.

Cameras were found by prison officers in the locker rooms in Castlerea and Cloverhill prisons in the last 10 days. In both instances, the officers present noted the camera was not operational at the time of discovery. In both cases, the cameras were concealed from general view.

In response to questions from the Irish Examiner, the IPS stated the cameras found were “two non-operational obsolete cameras”. According to multiple sources within the prison system, it is inexplicable that a single camera, not to mind two in separate prisons, could have been left in an obsolete state in a staff locker room.

Within Irish prisons, the CCTV system is run by a contracted company, not prison staff. All electronic equipment within the system must be accounted for in paperwork and carried in and out of the prisons through the normal security gates. The IPS did not offer any specific explanation as to how the cameras ended up in the locker rooms.

Conducting covert surveillance in a workplace by any agency other than the gardaí – and only then in specific circumstances – is illegal in both the criminal code and in data protection law.

“The discovery of the cameras was investigated by local management and it was quickly confirmed that neither camera was operational, cabled or capable of operating. At no stage was there any surveillance of staff taking place,” according to the IPS.

The discoveries occurred against a background in which different methods are being used during the lockdown to smuggle drugs into prisons in the absence of visits. 

The IPS stated it is the case that “efforts to traffic contraband have continued and there has been a shift in the methods used, including a return to traditional methods such as throw-overs.

Prison management and staff have been very vigilant with regard to efforts to get contraband into prisons and this has resulted in a significant level of interceptions.” 

Over the years, a very small number of prison officers have also been found to have been smuggling drugs into Irish prisons.

In 2018, then minister for justice Charlie Flanagan ordered a report into covert surveillance in Irish prisons following the publication in the Irish Examiner of allegations made by a prison officer. The report, compiled by the Inspector of Prisons, found there had been covert surveillance conducted by a private investigation firm. 

The report also stated there was no evidence that senior management in the IPS was aware of the surveillance and it had been authorised by the head of a unit in the service.

Following publication of that report, a review into surveillance policy was conducted and current policy states that “no surveillance can be authorised without the direct approval of the director of operations”.