Boy (13) spent night in prison

A 13-year-old boy was remanded in custody to St Patrick's Institution by a judge in Carlow and spent a night there, The Irish Timeshas learned.

The boy spent a night at the prison in Dublin before being escorted home once the authorities had verified his age.

Judge Mary Martin committed him to St Patrick's on January 4th, to be held there until his appearance at trial.

St Patrick's is a closed medium-security prison for male offenders aged 16 to 21 years. Opened in 1958, its governor is Seán Lennon and it has a bed capacity of 217.

The boy arrived there on Thursday evening and though authorities had concerns about his age, they were unable to verify it until Friday morning when he was brought home to his family in Carlow by gardaí.

A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service said the boy was remanded to St Patrick's on a standard remand warrant and there was no indication of his age on the document. "This was a standard warrant and we had to treat it seriously," he said.

"The boy arrived quite late. When we verified that he was 13 we sent him home straight away. We can not hold a 13-year-old at St Pat's."

He said that at 13, it would be normal for a boy to be sent to one of the special schools run by the Department of Education. "The very odd time we get an unruly certificate for a 15-year-old who is out of control, but we never hold 13-year-olds."

In July 1997, Judge Martin caused controversy when she told a 13-year-old boy that if she sent him to St Patrick's Institution as punishment for a series of break-ins, he would be locked up for 23 hours and raped every night, which, she said, happened.

She was trying to encourage the youth to accept the offer of an assessment at Oberstown House in Lusk, Co Dublin.