The Prison Officers Association said it believes today's attempt to smuggle a mobile phone into Portlaoise Prison is part of a concerted effort to get contraband into jails following a recent tightening of security.
The comment comes after an attempt earlier today to smuggle a mobile phone into Portlaoise Prison.
The Prison Service is investigating the attempt to smuggle a mobile phone to an inmate serving a sentence for false imprisonment.
Prison officers discovered the phone hidden in a package that purported to contain legal papers from a solicitor's office.
It is the second such attempt to smuggle a mobile phone into Portlaoise Prison in the past week.
Last week, a mobile phone was found by prison officers concealed in a candle and in the past three months the prison authorities have handed over more than 160 phones seized in Mountjoy Prison to gardaí.
