FEMALE prisoners in Mountjoy Prison have the best psychiatric, psychological and drug treatment services available to them, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard yesterday.
The details of the drugs treatment for female prisoners were outlined in a letter from the prison governor, Mr John Lonergan, to Judge Cyril Kelly.
On October 31st last, Judge Kelly sought clarification of the available treatment for prisoners such as Lorraine Ormond whom he jailed for 18 months. He said hear case concerned him deeply and listed it for yesterday to receive the information.
Ormond (28), from Mourne Road, Dublin, had requested to be sentenced arising out of an incident in which she threatened staff at a service station with a syringe after being caught taking three cans of lemonade.
Garda Mary Boyle told Mr John Whelan, prosecuting, that Ormond was "strung out" when she threatened the staff at the Parnell Service Station with a syringe on January 25th, 1995.
Judge Kelly had said he would review her sentence on February 2nd next with an updated probation report and results from urine analysis.
He said Ormond had a tragic background with a history of abuse by her father from the time she was 10 years old. She was hepatitis C positive and had found her partner and father of her children lying dead on the floor with a syringe in his leg in 1994. He was HIV positive and died from cardiac arrest.
"At least there is available to this young woman avenues of rehabilitation and multi faceted expertise if she wishes to avail of them. The matter is now in her own hands," he said.
He thanked the governor for the letter which he said he received promptly after making his request.
The letter stated the women prisoners with heroin addictions were initially put on a 30 day course of the methadone substitute physeptone and the dosage was decreased after seven days.
A psychiatrist, a psychologist and a drugs counsellor visited the prison regularly and interviews with Mr Derek Hallon of Coolmine Therapeutic Community were available on request.
Narcotics Anonymous met weekly and staff from other drug rehabilitation projects also visited the prison. One of the teachers in the prison was also a trained drug counsellor.
Judge Kelly said 80 per cent of the crime which came before the court was drug related. There was no point in jailing drug addicts if they were still using drugs when they came out.
Prisoners, including the females, now had the best psychiatric, psychological and drug treatment services available to them.