Ten prisoners have been rushed to hospital amid a suspected group drug overdose incident at Portlaoise Prison, the Republic’s maximum security jail.
The Irish Times understands one prisoner is in critical condition and nine are in a serious condition.
The group is being treated at Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise, beside the prison in the Co Laois town.
Sources said a quantity of white powder, the substance the prisoners are believed to have consumed, had been found and sent for analysis. While the results of those tests were awaited before the substance could be confirmed, it is suspected it was a potent synthetic drug.
It is understood the health of other unaffected prisoners is being kept under regular monitoring on Tuesday night.
The incident is being treated as a major event by the Irish Prison Service and appears to be the latest in a number of such cases in which drug users have overdosed, some fatally, after consuming lethally potent synthetic drugs from the same batch. The trend, as synthetic drugs becoming increasingly popular among recreational and acute drug users, is of particular concern for prisons management.
Often when drugs are smuggled into prisons they are consumed very quickly by a large group of prisoners, meaning very potent, or laced, batches can result in multiple overdoses immediately. The physical quantity of synthetic drugs users consume is also much smaller than other drug types, meaning batches of synthetic drugs are much easier to conceal for smuggling into jails.
One of the prisoners affected, all of whom are from the prison’s C Wing, is serving a life sentence for a gangland killing that claimed the life of a man heavily involved in the importation of drugs into the Republic on behalf of Dublin crime gangs.
It appears the prisoners believed the drug they were consuming was spice, a synthetic cannabinoid. However, there have been a number of multiple overdose cases in recent years, resulting in HSE and Garda warnings to drug users, around consuming drugs for fear they may contain nitazene-type synthetic opioids.
The Irish Prison Service just last month issued an urgent alert after use of nitazene caused a fatal overdose at a prison. The service said at the time the substance consumed was confirmed as being the potent synthetic opioid following analysis conducted by the HSE National Drug Treatment Centre Laboratory. Nitazene can be found in pills or powder. It is often seen in yellow tablet form.
In reply to queries the Irish Prison Service said it was working closely with the HSE as it attempted to respond to a number of overdose presentations in custody, though it did not reference Portlaoise Prison specifically.
“The prison service has secured extra naloxone kits in the event of clinical intervention,” the reply added. “Extra vigilance is being taken across the prison estate and the Irish Prison Service has commenced an information campaign for prisoners around the dangers of consuming contraband.
“The Irish Prison Service is committed to preventing the access of contraband including drugs into prisons and continues to be a high priority for the Irish Prison Service. The Irish Prison Service has committed to continuing to invest in new technologies and measures to support our efforts to keep contraband out of prisons.”
Prison staff had increased the use of random and intelligence led cell searches on a daily basis while its canine unit was carrying out searches around the prisons, including a greater focus on searching deliveries into prisons. The prison service said it was also working with gardaí to prevent drugs entering jails.
“The operational support group works closely with their colleagues in An Garda Síochána on a regular basis and the sharing of intelligence has led to target[ed] searches resulting in the seizure of contraband,” the prison service said.
The Irish Prison Officers Association declined to make any substantive comment on the evolving situation in Portlaoise, but added the case was concerning and highlighted its ongoing concerns around large quantities of drugs circulating in the prison system.