A drug search of prison officers early this year was "a mistake,'' Health and Social Services Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness said yesterday.

But guards remained implicated in providing drugs to prisoners, and Prison Commissioner Mr. Edward Dyer was determined to get to the bottom of it, Mr.

Edness said.

In fact, "there are likely to be more searches, but they obviously will be properly conducted,'' the Minister said at a news conference.

Meanwhile, Mr. Dyer and Deputy Commissioner of Prisons Mr. Marvin Trott would apologise to prison officers for the February 4 search at St. George's Prison Farm, for which sniffer dogs were used. No drugs were found.

Mr. Edness was reacting to a probe of the search by Mrs. Judith Hall-Bean, the senior personnel officer in the Department of Personnel Services.

He released her summary report, saying he also received "a more detailed report which contains some comments on personnel matters within the service, which I do not intend to release.'' In her summary report dated April 15, Mrs. Hall-Bean said the search was planned because prison officials had been "receiving reports from the Police which implicated certain prison officers as being involved in the supply of drugs to prisoners.'' The search was planned under Mr. Trott's supervision after consultation with the Attorney General, she said.

Prison officers were called to the Prison Farm for a "special meeting.'' Mr. Dyer "decided that a surprise search of some areas of the Prison Farm might help him get to the root of the problem,'' Mr. Edness said. "In an attempt to ensure he had the support of his prison officers, he wrote to the president of the prison officers association in July, 1993, informing him in general terms of his intention, and asking him to inform his members.

"Unfortunately, this information was never passed on.'' Neither Mr. Russell Richardson nor Mr. Clarence Davis of the Prison Officers Association could be reached for comment yesterday.

Mr. Dyer only wanted parts of the prison searched, not the officers themselves, Mr. Edness said. Mr. Trott "misunderstood the scope of intended action.'' In the report, Mrs. Hall-Bean said the Police officers involved informed Mr.

Trott their dogs were not trained for searching people.

"The search was carried out in front of the main gate, and anyone who was passing the gate could have witnessed the search,'' she continued. "Although a senior officer at the farm asked the Deputy Commissioner to move the officers to another location, he refused to do so.'' Asked whether anyone would be disciplined over the search, Mr. Edness said: "That's a matter that's being discussed internally.'' Mr. Trott is on vacation, a prison spokesman said yesterday.

"The commissioner accepts that the personal search of prison officers was a mistake, and that it was conducted in circumstances which made the mistake worse,'' Mr. Edness said. "He will formally apologise to the prison officers, as Mrs. Hall-Bean suggests.'' In a letter to Health and Social Services Permanent Secretary Mr. Carl Musson, Mr. Dyer said it was "not now my intention ever to use dogs'' to search guards again. If that changed, he would first consult the Attorney General.

"However, no one should go away from here with the impression that the Commissioner is going to abandon his attempts to get to the bottom of reports that prison officers are involved in passing drugs on to prisoners,'' he said.

"This kind of allegation strikes right at the heart of the prison service, and cannot be tolerated.'' On another recommendation of Mrs. Hall-Bean, Mr. Dyer said he had begun regular meetings between the department and the Prison Officers Association and was taking action "to raise the morale.''