A CABAL of corrupt prison officers known as 'The Dirty Dozen' is helping fuel a black market economy of hard drugs and pornography inside Westgate, it is claimed.

A former inmate of the correctional facility alleges that the vast majority of prisoners are drug addicts – and are allowed to pursue their habit openly because security officials either "turn a blind eye" or, in some cases, actually assist inmates dealing in and using contraband in return for cash.

And, according to the reformed felon, the culture of condoned drug use has resulted in the deaths of at least two inmates through drug overdoses in recent years.

"I would say that 99 per cent of inmates are on some kind of drug – be it marijuana, crack, amphetamines – you name it," the former prisoner, who asked not to be named, told the Mid-Ocean News.

"It's all coming through the system by either the prison officers themselves or by visitors, in which case the officers just turn a blind eye. The officers are assisting with the importation of drugs and other contraband into the prison – I've seen it for myself.

"I would say that 75 per cent of the officers are corrupt – either directly or indirectly. They are involved in the black market activity themselves, or know about it and just turn a blind eye."

Describing the rampant drug culture behind Westgate's walls, the man said: "During the course of the day, and even more so at night during lockdown, prisoners would be smoking so many drugs blatantly. If it was downwind, you could smell it – the smoke would come through the cells.

"I would wake up in the morning and my eyes would be burning from all the marijuana and crack smoke. I don't know the exact value of the drugs that are being brought in but I did see one of those large brown shopping bags absolutely full of cash.

"Apparently it was being taken outside to pay for drugs. During my time there, two inmates died. I don't know what the official causes of death were given as but a few officers told me in confidence that it was through drug overdoses."

The man also claims that drug testing of prisoners is a farce in which inmates provide urine samples given by "clean" inmates. The practice is known and accepted by prison officials because the skewed results allow them to remain in denial about the problem, the man alleged.

"One senior officer was a known cocaine addict – and was at times responsible for administering drug tests on inmates," he said.

"He was testing the very prisoners that he was associating with and so allowed them to bring in someone else's urine so that it would pass the test. Of course, the authorities were aware of what was going on but chose to do nothing about it. Otherwise it would have forced them to acknowledge the problem.

"Cell searches were also a complete joke. Every time there was to be a cell search, the prisoners would find out about it a few days beforehand.

"And after lockdown each night, certain prisoners were allowed out of their cells to deliver contraband between the different units. I observed things and came to understand why certain people would never get caught.

"And the control room, where everything is monitored, is also a joke. I know of officers who have seen people throw drugs over the fence. The drugs have got snagged on the barbed wire and the visitor will climb up to recover it. And the officers in the control room would sit and watch this and do nothing."

The former inmate also said that drug rehabilitation programmes were failing because the drug culture was rampant, making it easy for inmates to relapse.

"Most of the guys who attend some sort of drug programme relapse several times," he said.

"They come out of the programme, go back to the unit and are snorting coke or smoking crack the same day because it's just too easy. The term 'correctional' is an absolute joke. No correcting takes place at Westgate."

As well as drugs, other valuable currency such as cellular phones and pornographic movies, is being brought into the prison with the assistance of officers, the man claimed.

"Prison kingpins and their associates can get access to all sorts of luxuries, such as high quality food items – steaks or whatever. Anything that we can get in the outside world, they could get it inside."

The former prisoner, who spent several years behind bars, said that prison officers and even high-ranking administration staff are under both peer and financial pressure from a hardcore group of corrupt officers to "play the game".

"The difficulty for them is that they have friends and relatives inside serving time. Or, at the very least, they have acquaintances on the outside who in turn have friends and relatives serving time and want to help.

"You can get paid $1,000 for just bringing in a cell phone. Obviously that's a lot of money and so the guards are under pressure simply from a financial point of view. I know officers who have huge houses and it begs the question – where did you get the money to buy something like that?.

"And they get treated badly if they don't cooperate with the system. They get ostracised by their colleagues. There is a wrecking crew because people who don't play along with the system are beaten.

"When I first arrived at Westgate and commented on all the black market activity, I was told by a number of officers to just ignore it. When I complained, nothing would get done. Instead, my own life was threatened and I have been beaten twice."

The man claimed that authorities are unwilling to stamp out drug abuse for fear of exposing just how extensive the problem is. Instead, he claims, senior officials would rather sweep the problem under the carpet.

He said that a number of commissioners drafted in from overseas had their contracts terminated after they attempted to root out drug abuse.

He said he knew that one senior officer filed a report outlining the scale of drug use in Westgate – only to have it rejected by his superiors.

And he claimed that even former Public Safety Minister Randy Horton was pressured into ignoring the matter.

"Mr. Horton failed to act because he socialised with a lot of the prison officers through his Southampton connections – it was a big boys club," the man said. "So Randy was made aware of what was going on but wasn't able to do anything about it because he was afraid that any inquiry would get to the bottom of it and show just how widespread the problem is.

"In prison you are in a criminal community and the people who are supposed to be in control are just turning a blind eye – or even assisting. It's just sickening. Both inmates and prison officers are involved in the heavy flow of contraband through the system and the Bermuda public is blind to what is going on."

In a 2005 interview with The Royal Gazette, then-Prison Officers Association head Craig Clarke acknowledged that drugs and security breaches were a problem at the facility.

"Perimeters are still being breached and facilities are not as secure as they should be," Mr. Clarke said.

"Our system is actually breeding criminals because they understand now, coming into our institution is not a problem – they will see good friends up there.

"We are spending $60,000 on each inmate and the taxpayers of this country are getting nothing in return. If the Corrections Department were a business, we would be bankrupt. Bermuda doesn't have a Corrections Department, we have a prison."

*According to the former inmate, a number of officers are known by prisoners to be drug users themselves. He claimed that, in 2006, more than 80 civilians applied for posts within the Prison Service - but only a handful passed a drug screening test.

This week Public Safety Minister David Burch, speaking about employment prospects on the island, said that a job in the Service offered a secure career – as long as applicants remained drug-free.

"I would again encourage Bermudians who are a little nervous about their current employment, or future employment, to look at the fire service, police, corrections. Those careers offer stability of employment," he said.

"Sadly, you are going to have to have been off the weed for quite a while in order to pass the test . . . Seriously, that has been the greatest challenge that we face in terms of people making it beyond the first hurdle."