THE Department of Justice has agreed to investigate complaints by six prisoners in an attempt to defuse the worst hostage crisis in the history of the prison service.
There was no indication by early today that any of the prison officers who were seized at 6.30 p.m. on Saturday had been injured. However, the six hostage takers include two prisoners whose mental states are a source of concern. They are armed with a blood filled syringe, table legs and metal tubing.
Three of the prisoners, including a man charged in connection with the murder of the journalist, Veronica Guerin, are heroin addicts. It is possible these men may have been aggravated by a lack of the drug after a package of heroin was seized by prison authorities last week.
The three heroin addicts were yesterday supplied with physeptone, the heroin substitute used to treat addicts.
According to sources at Mountjoy, the ring leader of the group appears to be Mr Paul "Hippo" Ward (32), the Crumlin man who is awaiting trial on a charge of conspiracy to murder Ms Guerin.
Three of the other hostage takers, Warren Dumbrell (22), Joseph Cooper (26) and Edward Ferncombe (24), are described by gardai as unstable and dangerous.
The two other prisoners involved in the protest have said they do not wish to be named. One is in prison for robbery and the other for grievous bodily harm.
The prisoners have made a series of complaints. Mr Ward is protesting his innocence. The others are protesting against living conditions and have made allegations of ill treatment by prison staff. They are also seeking transfer to other prisons.
The four hostages have not been named. One officer has 17 years' service, another seven years and two are only in their second year as prison officers.
Last night, the Labour TD Mr Joe Costello, appealed to the prisoners to release the prison staff unharmed. Mr Costello said it was virtually unheard of for prisoners to take prison staff hostage in Ireland and that such a development could have serious adverse effects on prison reform.
He added that if the prisoners wished to make formal allegations of ill treatment to the gardai they were entitled to do so, and to have these allegations investigated by the gardai.
After the hostages were taken, the Department of Justice initiated its Hostage Situation Management Plan, which has been prepared for more than two years in anticipation of such an event.
Teams of prison officers who are trained in hostage negotiation have been working in shifts at the separation unit, which is on the fourth floor of the old prison infirmary.
Mrs Veronica Ferncombe, the mother of one of the hostage takers, Eddie Ferncombe, visited him at Mountjoy Prison yesterday. She said that he had given an assurance that no one would be harmed in the siege, and that he would give himself up if he was granted access to a solicitor.
The family of Mr Ward were critical of the conditions inside the prison.
"It's like a pig sty. It's not fit for anyone to live in," said one of Mr Ward's sisters.
Ferncombe (24) stabbed a Mormon missionary to death in Clondalkin in May, 1990.
Although initially charged with the murder of Gale Stanley Critchfield (20), the State dropped this charge and accepted Ferncombe's guilty plea to manslaughter. He received nine years imprisonment.
Ferncombe, who was born in Birmingham but brought up in Clondalkin, has been a regular source of trouble in prison, In April 1993 he attacked a prison officer in Limerick and broke his Jaw. This precipitated further violence in the prison, followed by allegations that prison officers overreacted and assaulted prisoners. He received a further two years' imprisonment for the assault on the prison officer.
In autumn 1994, Ferncombe refused to eat prison food and demanded a vegan diet consisting of vegetables prepared without the use of any animal fats or dairy products. He was being provided with a vegetarian diet at the time. He took the matter to the High Court but failed to provide medical evidence that his health was affected by not having vegan food.
Dumbrell was arrested last November shortly after he robbed a corner shop in Crumlin. During the robbery he injured the shopkeeper's elderly mother with a cudgel. Cooper, from Rathfarnham, is serving a fiveyear term for kidnapping.