SHARPENED TOOTHBRUSHES, knives, pool balls in socks and other homemade weapons are among more than 15,000 contraband items seized in prisons in the past two years.
Mobile phones, drugs, phone chargers, alcohol, sim cards and cash were also found to have been thrown over the walls of, or smuggled into, the State’s 14 prisons or detention centres in 2010-2011.
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said the growth in improvised or homemade weapons had increased since enhanced security measures were introduced.
These included airport-style security screening of all staff and visitors, X-ray scanners, increased random searches of prison cells and inmates, and stricter searches of prisoners entering prison or returning after temporary release and court visits.
A total of 15,076 items were seized in 2010 and 2011, while between 2009 and last year 4,260 weapons were seized: 1,473 in 2009, 1,499 in 2010 and 1,288 last year.
The contraband items included improvised weapons such as pieces of perspex, shivs (knives or other sharp implements), water jugs and brush handles.
The volume and the regularity of seizures “highlight the continuous attempts being made by criminal elements to access prohibited articles”, Mr Shatter said.
Mountjoy prison had the highest weapons seizures – 573 in 2009 and 460 in 2010 – but this fell to 247 last year.
Sinn Féin justice spokesman Jonathan O’Brien welcomed the drop in confiscations last year through the Prison Service’s efforts to improve security.
But he called on Mr Shatter to examine the high levels of contraband seized and to ensure prisons were safe places for prisoners.
The Cork North-Central TD had asked a series of parliamentary questions about the contraband, including weapons seized in each prison, and he said the results were “shocking”.
Mr O’Brien said St Patrick’s Institution in Dublin had the highest rate of weapons seized last year, with 256 weapons confiscated.
“This is a prison which still holds 16- and 17-year-olds” and “is an inappropriate place for children,” Mr O’Brien said.
“It emphasises the urgent need to proceed with the national children’s detention centre.”
There was no acceptable level of contraband seizures but “a place [St Patrick’s] that has had 1,625 of them over a two-year period is no place for children.
“The figures depict dangerous places for prisoners to be in custody and dangerous places for prison staff to work in and the matter must be addressed immediately.”
Mr Shatter said, however, that it was not possible to completely eliminate the possibility of acts of violence in prisons holding a high proportion of violent offenders “without introducing a regime that would be unacceptable”.
