Wheatfield Prison

Coordinates: 53°20′28″N 6°22′57″W / 53.3410°N 6.3826°W / 53.3410; -6.3826 Wheatfield Prison is a closed, medium security prison located on Cloverhill Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22. It receives male prisoners of 17 years of age and older from the counties of Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Wexford and Wicklow. It has a bed capacity of 430 and in 2009 the average daily number of inmates resident was 426.[1]

History

The construction of Wheatfield Prison began in 1980 and it opened nine years later in 1989. Cloverhill Prison, a remand prison, is located on a site adjacent to it. Both institutions share many of the same facilities.The prison was used in the TV series The Governor by ITV in 1994 and in Love/Hate for RTÉ in 2013.[2]

Attempted drug smuggling via UAV

Around 11am on 24 June 2014 a quadcopter crashed into an exercise yard of the prison.[3][4][5] The quadcopter collided with wires designed to prevent helicopters landing to aid escapes, causing it to crash.[3][4][5] A package containing drugs hung from the quadcopter by a rope and was seized by a group of prisoners before prison staff could get to it.[3][4][5] One prisoner swallowed the drugs and was placed into solitary confinement along with several others.[3][5] The quadcopter was badly damaged by the crash, though an unsuccessful attempt was made to fly it out of the prison.[3][4][5] The quadcopter was handed over to an Garda Síochána and both they and the prison service are holding their own investigations.[3][4][5]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Irish Prison Service (2010). Annual Report (PDF). Dublin. pp. 10–12.
  2. ↑ Irish Prisons Inspectorate (2007). Wheatfield Prison Inspection: 10th - 12th and 19th - 21st April 2nd, 3rd, & 16th May 2006 (PDF). Dublin.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lally, Conor (25 June 2014). "Remote control helicopter used to smuggle drugs into prison". The Irish Times. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Airborne device crashes at Wheatfield Prison". RTÉ News. 25 June 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Feehan, Conor; Hutton, Brian (25 June 2014). "Video: Remote control drone carrying drugs crash-lands at Wheatfield Prison". Irish Independent. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
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