A THUG with almost 80 convictions lost the plot behind bars and sliced a prison officer in a shocking attack today.
The young criminal, aged in his early 20s, was put into isolation at Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison as a garda probe is expected to be launched.
The incident happened on B base of the jail after 2pm.
A male prison officer was targeted and sliced from his lip to chin.
The officer was treated in hospital over the deep wound he suffered.
Sources say the lag who carried out the attack is a dangerous and volatile character.
A source told the Irish Sun: “This was an absolutely shocking attack which highlights the dangers faced on a daily basis.
“The prisoner basically went mental and the officer was sliced with a blade.
“He suffered a very deep wound.
“A prison investigation will be carried out but the gardai will be launching their own investigation into it.”
The inmate responsible is serving a lengthy sentence for other knife offences in which he attacked and stabbed two incident people as he robbed them.
In the terrifying incidents, he threatened to kill his victims.
‘ABSOLUTE THUG’
Another source said: “This individual is an absolute thug.
“His record speaks for itself when you look at his convictions and the amount of them for someone aged in their early 20s.”
Recently released figures show that 399 prison officers were violently attacked in Irish jails over the last four years.
There were 110 physical assaults in 2023, 128 in 2022, 91 in 2021 and 70 in 2020.
