Construction begins on new prison in Cork

Construction of the new jail to replace Cork prison is due to commence on Monday and will be completed by the end of next year, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has said. At a construction cost of €35 million, it will be the most expensive prison built in the State.

The 275-berth facility has been criticised by some social campaigners as it will accommodate two prisoners per cell. Other jails are being renovated for single-cell occupancy.

Mr Shatter said yesterday that while single-cell occupancy was the ideal regime for jails, it was not possible for the new Cork facility in this time of recession.

“It will be a very different prison to the existing Cork prison. It will have the appropriate facilities such as toilets and showers [in cells] to ensure people are dealt with in a humane way,” he said at the signing of a construction contract with PJ Hegarty & Sons.

Renovation works
He said that when the new prison opened and renovation works at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin were completed, there would remain only about 100 prison spaces – in Limerick and Portlaoise prisons – where prisoners would be required to slop out due to lack of in-cell toilets.

The new jail is being built in the car park of the existing 210-berth prison on Rathmore Road in north Cork. On its completion much of the existing prison will be demolished and the space will be retained within the new campus.

Social campaigner Fr Peter McVerry said it was “very difficult to understand” why, under Mr Shatter as Minister, Mountjoy had been transformed, in large part by being renovated into a single-occupancy regime, and yet when a new jail was being built from scratch it was decided to place two prisoners in each cell.

“In many cases it results in increased intimidation and violence, and leads to non-drug users being introduced to drug use.”

The director general of the Irish Prison Service, Michael Donnellan, said the new rehabilitative and educational facilities at the Cork prison, as well as the open spaces, courtyards and new family-visiting areas, represented a "complete transformation".

He said the Government’s and prison service’s priority was to eradicate slopping out. When he was appointed just over two years ago, 20 per cent of the 4,500-strong prison population, or 900 prisoners, were slopping out but that was down to 100 at present.

“Cork prison is the worst prison in our estate. We have been trying to build a new prison in Cork for 15 years so this is very much welcomed,” said Mr Donellan.