Dublin West TD Liam Lawlor began his second one-week prison term yesterday amid criticism over the decision to once again segregate him from other prisoners. Mr Lawlor was ordered back to jail for again failing to supply information sought by the Flood tribunal.
The Independent deputy, listed as Prisoner 6409, arrived at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin in a Garda van just before midday after meeting officers at Ronanstown Garda Station where he was formally arrested, as directed in the warrant for his committal.
Members of the media who had gathered outside his house in Lucan, at Lucan Garda Station and at all entrances to Mountjoy, caught only a brief glimpse of him as he was driven through the prison gates.
Mr Lawlor is being housed in a single cell in the basement of B-wing in the main prison building.
Last January, when he also served a week for failing to comply with the tribunal, he was held alone in the separate medical unit in a cell designed for four.
His floor this time was once the isolation block used to punish prisoners, but since being refurbished several years ago it has housed sex offenders, difficult prisoners and those segregated for their own safety.
Inmates have in-cell sanitation and televisions - planned for all prisoners under an ongoing refurbishment scheme - but the majority of other inmates at Mountjoy still slop out, share washing facilities and have limited access to television.
The Prison Service insisted, however, that Mr Lawlor would not receive any special treatment.
"The facilities are to make up for the fact that prisoners on this floor do not have the same opportunities for recreation as others," said a Prison Service spokesman, Mr Jim Mitchell.
Mr Mitchell said the plot uncovered in Britain to photograph Jonathan Aitken while in prison had put the Irish authorities on the alert.
"Obviously cameras are not allowed in prisons but we have had to introduce scanning equipment to check for mobile phones which are also banned and we have found them on prisoners.
"We have an obligation to provide safe custody and we can't take a chance on something happening", said Mr Mitchell.
The Irish Penal Reform Trust said the decision to give Mr Lawlor separate accommodation, while "genuine", was "utterly misguided".
Dr Valerie Bresnihan, the chairwoman of the Irish Penal Reform Trust, said it proved there was one system of treatment for the marginalised and another for the well-known.
"I do not know why they are saying he is in a single room for his own safety.
"Liam Lawlor has never been known to be violent so the implication is extraordinarily negative for the other prisoners.
"For us it's nauseating. Only a very tiny minority of prisoners are habitually violent. One in four in Mountjoy are in for not paying fines.
"From our point of view it would be very good, although unpleasant, for him as a public representative and legislator to see how real prison life is lived and what little resources are given to prisons."
Dr Bresnihan said the restrictive regime in segregation could be bad for Mr Lawlor.
" The objective of prison is supposed to be to rehabilitate but you cannot rehabilitate prisoners if they keep them locked up for 23 hours a day."
Mr Lawlor is due for release around noon next Wednesday.