Opposition Senator Neville Darrell is trying to garner political points by accusing prison staff of bringing drugs behind prison walls, a long serving prison officer claims.

During last Wednesday's Senate debate of the Budget, Sen. Darrell said: "The other sad truth we have to face is the drugs are often brought into prison by the staff...It may be a better strategy to have an independent contractor run the ion scan machine."

The man, who asked that he not be identified, said he and officers were angry that Sen. Darrell could make such a claim without substantiating it.

"Ever since I've been in the service, there have been rumours but I've never heard of any official cases where an officer has been caught with drugs," the man said. "I'm tired of politicians using Department of Corrections as a political football."

The man recalled how a colleague's daughter asked her father why he provided drugs to prisoners, because, the man said, she learned that from the newspaper.

"Mr. Darrell is responsible for that," the man told The Royal Gazette.

Instead of making false claims, he said, Sen. Darrell should have been inquiring about how well the taxpayers' money was being spent.

"The job of a correctional officer can be hazardous, difficult and very stressful.

"Every morning they leave home unsure whether they are going to return home injured, maimed, or if they are going to return at all. Do you think when offenders enter the correctional system they are less violent, no longer bad-tempered, and all of a sudden co-operative?"

And while he added that every officer has to be ion-scanned and searched before they begin each shift, he implored to his fellow officers that if they knew anything about drugs coming into the prisons, they needed to come forth.

"Most of the officers I know don't want drugs in the prison," he said. "If they knew of an officer that is doing that they would want something to be done about it."

And to people who accused officers of bringing drugs to inmates, he said: "If they have this information, they need to pass it on to the Police.