ALL major prisons should have a detoxification unit for drug addicted prisoners, the conference was told. Mr Ray Murphy, of the POA, said the detox centre set up at Mountjoy had proved a success, as had the idea of a "drug free" zone in the training unit beside the prison.
He said that between last June and the end of last month, 284 prisoners had transferred to the drug free unit, including 36 from the detoxification centre. "Nine of these 36 failed and were returned to Mountjoy."
He said all major jails should have such units involving outside support groups, and psychological, welfare and education services. "It should be the stated policy of the Department (of Justice) to eventually rid our prisons of the drug menace for good."
Overcrowding at the women's prison at Mountjoy in Dublin had reached the stage where a woman was released an hour after arriving to begin a 12 month sentence, a POA official said yesterday.
Mr Ray Murphy said the woman had been given temporary release almost immediately.