ALARM BUTTONS in "dirty and smelly" isolation cells in Loughan House jail in Co Cavan did not work and there were serious shortcomings with some of the facility's education and health services, the Inspector of Prisons, Judge Michael Reilly, has found.
In his first full report since coming to office last December, Judge Reilly noted that some facilities at the jail, such as the laundry, were not being used at all while others were being under utilised.
Less than 40 per cent of inmates were engaged in organised activities, with many scheduled for education and training courses opting to stay in bed.
The open prison can cater for 130 inmates and mostly takes in prisoners from other jails who are nearing the end of their sentences.
A motor gasket workshop that could cater for 10 prisoners was not reaching its potential because the instructor assigned to it spent most of his time as a prison officer union representative.
"Therefore, no new prisoners can be identified as suitable candidates to work there," the judge concludes in his inspection report.
"Even if prisoners were identified as suitable, there is no one to supervise them."
While a laundry facility was located in the prison, the bulk of the laundry was sent out for cleaning. A request in May to the Department of Education for an extra teacher to cope with the growing number of inmates had not been answered by August.
This was despite an "excellent" new school building having been provided. Between December 2007 and May 2008, there were some 30 foreign national inmates at the jail who could neither read nor write in English.
There were some 90 illiterate English-speaking inmates incarcerated during the same period.
"This raises the obvious question of what had been done with these prisoners in the closed prisons that they came from to address their literacy problems," the report notes.
Key Findings
• Isolation rooms were smelly, dirty and in need of ventilation and push-button alarms did not work.
• Prisoner misconduct reports were "most unsatisfactory" containing little detail.
• The prisoners' recreation hall was dreary and dirty.
• The capacity of the kitchen was inadequate.
• Prisoners' medical records were not centralised and did not follow prisoners on transfer.
• There was no psychologist.
• No inmate leaving the prison over the six months to May had secured employment.
• An addiction counsellor appointed to see 265 inmates had no basic office equipment.
• There was no drug treatment programme.
• The jail laundry was unused and laundry was sent out to a commercial cleaners.