Inmates 'sleeping upright' because of overcrowding

INMATES IN Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison were sleeping on benches, large communal cells, offices and in the reception area, Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan claimed.

He said prisoners were also occupying the shower areas in the prison’s basement.

“Mountjoy is in a most dangerous condition, not only for prisoners but for staff working on a full-time basis,” he added.

Mr Flanagan said it was inhumane and unacceptable to have prisoners sleeping in an upright position because of overcrowding.

He accused Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern of being oblivious to the need for a root-and-branch reform of the role and function of prisons, “because of the adherence of this and successive governments over the years to the Victorian concept of prison in society”.

Mr Ahern replied that “despite the perception the deputy sometimes peddles, we are not putting girl guides into prisons”.

He added: “More than 80 per cent of those in prison are there for sentences of 12 months or more. There are not people languishing in prison who should not be there. Dangerous people are in prison who should not be on the streets.”

Mr Ahern said there had been a dramatic increase in the numbers going to prison as a result of increased Garda activity, longer custodial sentences and increased court activity. Although there was the difficulty in Irish prisons of a slightly above 100 per cent capacity, it compared to a figure of 125 per cent in Belgium, 131 per cent in France, 130 per cent in Italy and 141 per cent in Spain.

“I was in Mountjoy prison some weeks ago and although what I saw was an old prison – that is one of the reasons the Government decided to build a new prison at Thornton Hall – some of the stories I have heard, and some of those the deputy peddled in the House today, do not bear up,” Mr Ahern added.

He said prisoners had spoken to him and none had complained about conditions. One prisoner had remarked that, as far as he was concerned, the situation was “reasonable” in the circumstances.

He added he had been assured by the new governor and management that changes would be made in the way the prison was being run. The Government accepted, he said, it was not right that a prison should be in a city centre location.

Mr Flanagan said Mr Justice Michael Reilly had said last September that the situation in Mountjoy was unsafe.

The Minister, he said, should accept there was a crisis under his watch. He was doing himself and his Government no service by saying in the Dáil he met a prisoner in Mountjoy who had said conditions were reasonable.