A BENCH warrant has been issued by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for a female prisoner who failed to return to Mountjoy Prison after getting temporary release just two weeks into an 18-month sentence.
Judge Cyril Kelly said he appreciated that prison authorities had certain powers in relation to prisoners and their sentences. ,However, he wondered why Lorraine Ormond had been given temporary release when the court had fixed yesterday, February 4th, as the review date for her sentence.
Ormond's case was to be reviewed in the light of an updated probation report and drug-testing results.
The sentence had been structured in the light of extensive background information on Ormond, which had been furnished to the court, he said.
Ormond (28), from Mourne Road, Dublin, was sentenced last October 31st. Earlier, she had asked to be jailed following an incident in which she threatened staff at the Parnell Service Station in Dublin with a syringe after being caught taking three cans of lemonade on January 25th, 1995.
Judge Kelly said that prior to imposing sentence he had been deeply concerned about her situation and had sought clarification on the treatment available to female prisoners.
The prison governor, Mr John Lonergan, had promptly replied with a letter to the court outlining the medical, psychiatric, psychological and drug treatment services provided for female inmates with drug addictions.
Mr Lonergan had said he would be happy to come into court on November 18th last to give further information. But three days earlier Ormond was released, the judge said.
At the earlier hearing Garda Mary Boyle had told Mr John Whelan, prosecuting, Ormond was "strung out" when she threatened the service staff with the syringe.
Judge Kelly had noted that 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 are 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 had said at the sentence hearing.