The Cabinet has formally approved the closure of Mountjoy Prison, Dublin. Senior Irish Prison Service officials are to immediately begin preparatory work on the sale of the site.
The prison service has also been asked to identify a greenfield location on the outskirts of Dublin where a replacement facility could be operational within three years.
The prison's closure, along with a series of major reforms of the prison service, is contained in the Prisons Bill 2004. The general scheme of the Bill was published last night following its approval at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell said recent criticism of facilities at Mountjoy had strengthened his view that the prison should be closed.
"I have inspected the conditions in Mountjoy prison and I have come to the clear view that it falls so far short of the requirements of a modern prison, and the needs of prisoners and staff, that replacement of the prison complex, rather than refurbishment of the existing facilities, is the best way forward."
Included in the Prisons Bill are provisions for the privatisation of prisoner escorts and the establishment of a nationwide video conferencing system.
When video conferencing is introduced inmates will no longer be required to attend court hearings relating to their continued detention or crimes committed before they were incarcerated.
Instead they will participate in the hearings from prison via audio and video links. The system is expected to be used most in remand hearings where accused persons often play little or no part in the proceedings. Escorting inmates to and from such hearings has become a major drain on the prison service, costing millions annually.
Plans to press ahead with video conferencing come after the recommendation of the move by an expert group chaired by Mrs Justice Denham of the Supreme Court.
Mr McDowell, said video conferencing would not only save money but would reduce security risks associated with escorts.
Advertisements have already been placed at EU level looking for expressions of interest from companies interested in providing the escort services. The new Prisons Bill is expected to be enacted before the Summer meaning private escorts could be in place within 12 months.
However, if agreement on annualised hours can be reached between the prison service and prison officers the escort services will not be privatised.
The Prison Officers's Association has long been opposed to privatisation. It also said it was against the closure of Mountjoy given the fact €60 million had been spent in recent years in its redevelopment.
Confirmation of Mountjoy's closure comes more than a century and a half after a penal institution first opened on the North Circular Road site.
Mountjoy, or Ireland's Model Prison as it was known, dates back to 1850. It was originally intended as the first stop for men sentenced to transportation to Tasmania.
Deportees would spend a period in separate confinement at the Dublin jail before being transferred to Spike Island, Cork, from where they would be transported. It currently has a bed capacity of 450.
The Mountjoy campus also includes St Patrick's Institution - which holds up to 271 inmates aged between 16 and 21 - as well as the Training Unit, a 94-bed semi-open prison. It is understood both will be closed as part of the Mountjoy closure. The Dóchas Centre, which holds up to 80 female inmates, is unaffected.
