JOHN LONERGAN (62) is from Bansha, Co Tipperary. He joined the Irish Prison Service when he was 20 years old and began working in Limerick Prison.
He was appointed governor of Mountjoy Prison in June 1984 and, apart from a four-year stint as governor of Portlaoise Prison, he spent the rest of his career at the Dublin inner-city prison.
He is married with two daughters and lives in Dublin. He is passionate about hurling and has had a long association with Kilmacud Crokes GAA club.
He told Reality magazine last year that he was an altar boy for seven years and religion was a key part of his formative years in Tipperary. He said religion had been a powerful influence for good and for bad.
Mr Lonergan has spoken at many conferences on issues such as social justice, parenting and mental health.
He has often highlighted the fact that vast numbers of people in prison come from the most socially disadvantaged areas in Ireland. He has also spoken of people who appear to volunteer to go to prison because of their dire circumstances outside.
Writing in this newspaper five years ago, he said thoroughbred horses enjoyed far superior living facilities than thousands of our poor people.
He has frequently highlighted the link between crime and social and economic deprivation and has given many speeches about the need to create a society based on justice, equality, fairness and compassion.
He said yesterday that overcrowding was the greatest scourge he ever had to deal with in Mountjoy Prison.
Overcrowding had been at the root of everything else that was wrong in the prison, he said. Mr Lonergan also said there was
more “warehousing” than rehabilitation taking place in our prisons.
He said there were no drugs in prisons when he first joined the service. In the past 42 years, he had seen the damage they had done to prisoners and their families.
Asked in 1997 if his job stressed him, he said: “A job like this is bound to have its ups and downs and if you allow yourself to worry about it, you end up stressed very quickly. My attitude is, when you go out the gate you forget about it and I do that very successfully. If you couldn’t, you’d have to take another look at the whole thing.”
He said yesterday he accepted that prison was a tough and cruel place but hoped he would be remembered for taking a genuine interest in prisoners and for running a fair and just regime.
ALISON HEALY