The Dublin Prison Chaplaincy Team has called for hospitalisation, rather than imprisonment, for psychiatrically ill people. In their annual report to the Minister for Justice, the chaplains say they are not willing to stay silent on this and other issues.
"People who are sick should not go to a place of punishment but to a place of care and treatment," said Father Fergal MacDonagh, head chaplain. "It is to their shame that some Irish judges give prison sentences to those who are psychiatrically ill." The report also highlights the need for an improved psychological service for inmates. One chaplain referred to a remand prisoner who shared a cell with a psychiatrically ill prisoner and awoke to find the prisoner trying to commit suicide. "Witnesses to such attempted suicides are often not afforded adequate psychological help, if any at all," the report says.
The chaplains are also critical of the drug strategy in prisons, pointing out that some drug addicts begin their habit while in the "safe custody" of the State. "The drug strategy required is one that addresses the availability of drugs and, simultaneously, offers programmes that address addiction," Father MacDonagh said.
The refusal to allow prisoners to the funerals of close family members was also criticised by the prison chaplains. "In one case, the teenage son of a remand prisoner died and the prisoner was not allowed, even under escort, to see the body of his child," Father MacDonagh said. "In another case, a sentenced prisoner was refused permission to see his mother's body in the west of Ireland. "It appears to us that the reason for such refusal was that it would involve the additional cost of overtime as staff would have to be recalled for duty," said Father McDonagh.
He said it was imperative that, at the very least, a bereaved prisoner should be allowed see the body of a close family member.
The report also questioned the lack of treatment for sex offenders and urged that the Arbour Hill sex offender treatment programme be made available to all sex offenders. They also said that consideration for supervised early release should be given to those who successfully completed the programme. The construction of three-bed cells at Cloverhill Prison was questioned by the prison chaplains. Father MacDonagh also described as "scandalous" the overcrowding in the B-Base of Mountjoy prison where some prisoners were confined to their cells for 23 hours a day.
