Dead Men Walking Inmates 'zombiefied' after overdosing on spice drug in Mountjoy Prison

Six inmates, including a one-legged thief, were treated in hospital after overdosing on the drug 'Spice' in Mountjoy prison.

The Sunday World has learned the six inmates, all of whom were housed in the prison's D-Division, took ill on Monday.

A source told the Sunday World that the inmates appeared 'zombiefied.'

"It was like something out of the Walking Dead," a source said.

"The inmates were taken to the Mater and received medical attention."

The Sunday World understands that one of the inmates who took ill was Rathfarnham native Eddie Valentine.

Valentine (45) is serving a 19-month sentence after being caught in December 2017 in a homeowner's garden carrying a ladder and a crow-bar.

The resident raised the alarm after he looked out his window and saw Valentine, who has a prosthetic leg, outside his house in suspicious circumstances without permission.

Valentine claimed he was "doing work on a house" when gardaí arrested him and questioned him.

He was jailed for 19 months for the incident, as well as for a series of unrelated shoplifting charges.

He stole €110 worth of alcohol from SuperValu in Rathgar on one occasion, €170 worth of drink on another, and €129 worth on a third. None of the property was recovered.

In another theft at the same store, he went in with a foil-lined bag and took two bottles of gin, two bottles of brandy and two bottles of vodka, with a total value of €180. The bag was seized and the property was recovered on that occasion.

Valentine also stole sunglasses valued at €150 from an optician in Nutgrove Shopping Centre.

The court heard he had 84 prior convictions for offences, including theft.

Valentine was already serving another two-year sentence when he appeared in court.

He had been living a "chaotic life" at the time of the offence, his solicitor Matthew DeCourcy said.

He had chronic alcohol dependency, he added, and told the court Valentine was "doing very well" in prison.

Despite these claims, sources say prison authorities are satisfied the drug overdoses on Monday occurred after the inmates ingested the 'Spice.'

'Spice' is a mix of herbs laced with laboratory-made chemicals with mind-altering effects.

It is often called "synthetic marijuana" or "fake weed" because some of the chemicals in it are similar to ones in marijuana.

But its effects are sometimes very different from marijuana, and often much stronger.

Sources say inmates in Mountjoy are increasingly resorting to the use of contraband drugs thrown over the walls of the prison after the main drug supply route through the prison's kitchen was uncovered.

Last month, an intelligence-led search operation on a kitchen delivery truck to Mountjoy Prison revealed the presence of 30 mobile phones and Sim cards and an assortment of drugs, including two kilos of cocaine.

Although Garda estimates put the value of the drugs alone in the region of €145,000, sources say the value inside would likely be multiples of this figure.

In the wake of the discovery of the shipment, which had been concealed in boxes of sugar, orders were issued to prisons across the country that all delivery trucks are to be subject to intensive searches on arrival.

Although the seizure was seen as a success at the upper echelons of the Irish Prison Service, there are nonetheless grave concerns over how the supply chain was breached, how long the breach has existed and whether drugs and phones may have also been delivered to other prisons in this manner.

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