APPARATO DI SICUREZZA INSUFFICIENTE NELLE CARCERI DEL NORD
Confiscati grandi quantitativi di oggetti vietati e droghe nelle carceri dell’Irlanda del Nord
Sono 1.065 gli oggetti vietati confiscati ai prigionieri di Maghaberry, 179 ai prigionieri di Maghilligan e 372 nel carcere di Hydebank Wood, negli ultimi 12 mesi.
Questi dati sono emersi da documenti redatti dal Prison Seervice e resi noti dal Belfast Telegraph sulla base del Freedom of Information Act.
Il Prison Service ha confiscato beni di cui un prigioniero non dovrebbe mai venire in possesso ed altri non totalmente bannati dalle carceri.
Sequestrati lame, cacciaviti, cavi elettrici, accessori e documenti paramilitari, batterie, nonchè 55 cellulari, 14 oggetti pornografici, 9 partite di alcool e quattro paia di guanti in lattice. Confiscati anchei 91 lotti di farmaci e compresse e 134 ad uso di stupefacenti.
Finlay Spratt, il presidente dell’associazione che rappresenta le guardie carcerarie, ha detto che i sequestri hanno dimostrato la necessità di un rafforzamento della sicurezza nelle carceri, e le problematiche che il personale carcerario si trova a dover affrontare quotidianamente.
Un portavoce del Northern Ireland Prison Service ha affermato: “Vengono utilizzati una serie di metodi per contrabbandare oggetti vietati in carcere e questo include spesso l’occultamento di oggetti nelle cavità corporee che è molto difficile da rilevare”.
Le misure di prevenzione quali l’impiego dei cani anti droga, i rilevatori di sicurezza e la pratica delle perquisizioni corporali (streap searches), non sembrano essere sufficienti.
Scandal of illicit stashes found in Northern Ireland jails (Belfast Telegraph)
Weapons, drugs, phones and games consoles uncovered
Prisoners have been found in possession of alcohol, drugs, weapons, games consoles and even TV Digiboxes in the last year, raising fresh questions about security at Northern Ireland’s jails.
They were among more than 1,600 contraband items which were confiscated by officers at the province’s three prisons in a 12-month period. At the weekend a three-day lockdown at the high-security Maghaberry Prison ended with parts which could have been used to make a crude explosive device being unearthed.
Now Prison Service documents, which have been obtained by this newspaper, reveal how hundreds of items were confiscated from prisoners in the 12 months to August.
The haul included seizures of blades, screwdrivers, mobile phones and pornography. Other items removed from prisoners were electrical wire and batteries, documents and paramilitary paraphernalia.
The Prison Service said confiscated items were property which a prisoner shouldn’t have, and included items which are not completely banned from prisons.
However the Prison Officers Association said the seizures proved that security at prisons was not tight enough.
According to the documents, some 1,065 items were confiscated from prisoners at Maghaberry, another 179 seizures were made at Magilligan, with 372 items removed from Hydebank Wood inmates.
The stash of seized items included 55 mobile phones and accessories, 14 pornographic items, nine lots of alcohol and four pairs of Latex gloves.
Officers also removed 91 lots of drugs and tablets, and a further 134 “drug-related items”.
The details were released in response to a Freedom of Information request.
Finlay Spratt, the chairman of the association which represents prison officers, said the seizures demonstrated the need for tighter security in jails.
“This information adequately describes the problems that prison officers are facing on a daily basis,” he said.
A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Prison Service said: “A range of methods are used to smuggle prohibited items into prison and this often includes the concealment of items in bodily cavities which is very difficult to detect.
“The Prison Service however deploys a range of techniques to minimise the supply of illegal items entering prisons here, including searches, security detectors and the deployment of a passive drug dog.”
The Five Demands 