An “extremely concerning” amount of drugs is entering Irish jails, according to some prison chaplains.
One report from chaplains said it was a “tragedy” that inmates who arrived into jail “clean” could leave as addicts.
It comes as annual 2019 reports from prison chaplains around the country have been released under the Freedom of Information Act.
Mountjoy Prison's chaplaincy service said it was almost impossible to avoid the temptation of drugs in the prison, with the availability of various substances “extremely concerning”.
It noted a prisoner's families and friends could be put under extreme pressure to carry drugs in for others.
Former Mountjoy Prison governor John Lonergan said drugs have been a problem in jails for decades.
The alternative to that is to lock people up completely, 24 hours a day
“It’s almost impossible to totally eliminate it, but unless you go for a very, very strict and rigid regime, which would mean probably no visits, no contact, no nothing,” he said.
“Of course the problem that prisons have is try to maintain or sustain a reasonable living environment, where you have an element of free association like exercise, like in workshops. The alternative to that is to lock people up completely, 24 hours a day.”
Other prisons across Ireland have reported similar issues to Mountjoy, with the largest jail in the country, the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise, raising concerns about the availability of drugs in its chaplains' annual report.
Chaplains in Wheatfield Prison in Dublin described how prisoners arriving into jail clean could leave addicted to drugs, and how some inmates refused to go to the prison yard for fresh air due to drug activity.
The Irish Prison Service has said about 70 per cent of inmates committed to jail have addiction issues.
Mental health
Mental health was another issue raised in the annual reports, with “serious concern” voiced that people with mental illnesses continue to be jailed on a regular basis.
The chaplaincy service for Cloverhill Prison in Dublin said a prison environment is “totally unsuitable” for men suffering from a major mental illness, but mental illness remains a prominent factor in the jail.
The chaplains said it takes weeks or months to divert a prisoner to a local hospital.
The Cloverhill chaplains also raised concerns about overcrowding in the jail, saying some prisoners had been forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor.
The Irish Prison Service said it works closely with the National Forensic Mental Health Service to provide mental health support and treatment to people in custody.
However, it acknowledged an urgent need to enhance and improve the level of service provided.
