Madam, - The death of a man in a holding cell at Mountjoy Prison on Monday night has thrown our prison system into tragically sharp relief once again.
The internal security measures at the prison are matter of significant concern. But such incidents also reflect a broader crisis in our current penal policy.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell rightly blames the physical infrastructure of Mountjoy for its inability to provide adequate training and educational facilities. A better environment should allow effective and innovative techniques of sentence management to be employed, he argues (The Irish Times, July 28th.).
The Minister is also correct to point out that those who object to the closure of Mountjoy Prison cannot at the same time expect a 21st-century model of imprisonment to be conducted within its walls. Such critics cannot have it both ways.
Neither, however, can the Minister.
While new and improved conditions are an imperative, the physical structure of our penal system is only part of the problem. At present we have a situation where the Minister is closing some prisons on the grounds of economy, yet constructing other large institutions at huge expense.
He also seeks an innovative system of rehabilitation, yet is still fundamentally committed to the imprisonment of large numbers of people, often serving short sentences, for whom prison is the least effective option.
Until the crisis at the policy level within our penal system is firmly addressed, events such as the latest death should come as no surprise to any observer of prison affairs. - Yours, etc,
MARY ROGAN, Grosvenor Lodge, Rathmines, Dublin 6.