Drugs, violence and jailing of mentally ill persist in prisons

Serious problems such as drug abuse, violent attacks and imprisonment of mentally ill persons persist across the Irish prison system, visiting committee reports for last year have concluded.

However, in contrast to the damning findings of such committees over the past two decades and notwithstanding the continuing serious problems, prisons in the Republic have improved hugely in recent years with jails having been refurbished, overcrowding eased and rehabilitative options greatly extended.

These are the findings of the annual reports for 2014 of the committees appointed by Government to visit jails through the year and report their findings.

The latest batch of reports has been published by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald.

Shelton Abbey open prison in Co Wicklow was praised for the standard of the farm on site and the rehabilitative role it played in prisoners' lives. However, eight people absconded during the year from the centre, which is not secured in any way.

In the State's only other open prison - Loughan House in Co Cavan - there were just two cases of prisoners absconding last year.

In Mountjoy Prison there had been an “immense improvement” in accommodation for prisoners following refurbishment works. However, the flow of drugs into the jail remained a serious problem.

The visiting committee said while many of those serving drug-related sentences had benefitted from being freed early or temporarily to take up working opportunities, there was a need for drug-free hostels to assist them in staying drug-free post-release.

Overcrowding continued to be a major concern at Limerick Prison. However, while it was a very busy facility, it generally worked well, though violent prisoner-on-prisoner attacks occurred frequently.

Sniffer dogs

Drugs continued to be a problem in Limerick and the committee was concerned sniffer dogs were not present at the prison on a full-time basis.

When the visiting committee of St Patrick’s Institution for Young Offenders on the Mountjoy Prison campus in Dublin visited the jail, for much of the year three prisoners were being held there because the detention of young offenders was being wound down.

However, the committee said it was concerned the Oberstown youth detention facility in north Co Dublin may not have the resources needed to house the 17-year-olds being sent there from St Pat’s.

It was concerned about how the other prisoners, aged 18 to 21 years, would cope in adult prisons.

It believed a new facility needed to be created to house prisoners aged 18 to 23 years.

At the Dóchas Centre prison for women, which is also on the Mountjoy campus, overcrowding was a major concern for the first 11 months of the year before being alleviated last December and into the first weeks of this year.

Some women were not being released on the completion of their sentences because homelessness meant they had nowhere to go on release.

The conditions in Cork Prison continued to be poor, though the new prison adjacent to the existing facility was progressing well. In general, the visiting committee believed the jail functioned as well as possible, but it was concerned that some mentally ill people were being sent to prison for want of appropriate services being provided to them by the health authorities.

In north Dublin’s Arbour Hill Prison, which houses many sex offenders, the new “building better lives” programme launched in 2009 was treating a much higher number of prisoners than the obsolete programme.

Unusually for a prison in the Republic, Arbour Hill was found last year to be completely drug free.