Maghaberry POW's visit refused when 'drugs dog' induced to sit down
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| Fermanagh Herald Wednesday March 22, 2006 Prisoner claims drugs dog was got at Newtownbutler Republican, John Connolly has claimed he was denied an 'open' visit on a recent Saturday when the drugs sniffer dog inside Maghaberry Prison was 'induced' by its handler to indicate that one of two visitors had drugs on their person. The dog, which walks along a line of visitors, is trained to sit down when it comes across anyone with drugs on their person. Mr. Connolly told the 'Herald' that the dog incident further deteriorated when warders tried to usher his two friends into a room and, when they resisted, riot-clad officers arrived on the scene and ejected the two. "It's a total disgrace in this day and age that this is still going on within the prison. These two friends had visited me on numerous occasions without any trouble but, this time, one of them noticed the dog handler making a movement as if to tell the dog to sit down." Mr. Connolly subsequently contacted Marian Price, the spokeswoman for the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association. She told the 'Herald' that last Saturday's incident with the sniffer dog was something 'that seems to crop up now and then'. "Things go smoothly for a period and then, when there's a bit of unrest in the prison, all of a sudden the sniffer dog starts acting suspiciously, mostly against Republican prisoners. "Certainly at the moment there's a lot of tension, with guards making comments about Bobby Sands, things like that, now we're coming up to the anniversary of the hunger strike." A spokesman for the Prison Service confirmed that there was an incident on Saturday, March 4 when a passive drug dog 'indicated on' a visitor. "The visitor was offered a closed visit but he and his companion became abusive and refused to cooperate with the staff. As a result the visit was terminated. The Northern Ireland Prison Service strongly rejects any accusation that handlers encourage their dogs to indicate on visitors or that staff are trying to create tension in the prison."
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