A five-hour hostage situation in the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise recently that was ended after a weapon was exchanged for a bar of chocolate – was actually a ruse in a bid to take a female officer hostage.
The Irish Independent reports that Jeffrey Morrow is suspected of organising the incident which happened on February 20.
The 38-year-old is in prison serving an 11 year sentence for his involvement in the feud-related murder of dissident republican Vinnie Ryan in February 2016.
According to the paper, Morrow has ‘been running the drugs show’ from Block B in the jail.
Initially, it was believed that two prisoners, one of them armed with a weapon, locked themselves into a cell after taking another hostage.
According to national media reports, specialist officers were called in, along with trained negotiators.
Along with a request for drugs, their demands included tobacco, Swiss rolls and Mars bars.
The prison’s emergency control and restraint team were immediately alerted and the main prison went into full lockdown for the evening.
After hours of negotiating and attempts to defuse the situation, the team managed to convince the inmate holding the weapon to hand it over in exchange for a Mars bar.
However, the Irish Independent now reports that the true intentions of Morrow and the others involved was to lure a particular female officer down to the cell.
A source told the paper: “This incident was all a sinister ruse to lure a female prison officer into the cell so she could be taken hostage.”
The source said the female prison officer who was targeted had been “especially proactive on a clampdown on drugs” and the week before she had been involved in organising drugs tests on prisoners.
In a statement, the Prison Service said: “Staff responses and the incident was successfully resolved.
“No staff were injured, prisoners involved received only minor injuries.
“The Director General has commended all staff involved in ensuring that this incident was successfully resolved.”
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