War of words over Mountjoy intensifies
Chairman Stephen Langton attacked “alarmist comments” from former committee member Paul Mackay and said conditions in the 160-year-old institution were actually improving.
Both men, along with Irish Prison Service (IPS) boss Brian Purcell, addressed the Oireachtas Justice Committee yesterday.
And the row is set to deepen as the committee intends to invite John Lonergan and Kathleen McMahon to address it, both of whom recently left their jobs as governors of Mountjoy and Dóchas Women’s Prison respectively. The latter was particularly critical of the IPS and Mr Purcell.
Mr Purcell yesterday requested he attend that meeting, setting up a potentially tense encounter.
Some of that tension was evident yesterday in exchanges between Mr Mackay and Mr Purcell, with the former interrupting the prison boss on at least one occasion.
There were also tensions between Mr Mackay and Mr Langton, with the latter heavily criticising Mr Mackay for going to the press. He also objected to Mr Mackay being given a document from Mr Purcell regarding Mountjoy, saying he was no longer a member of the committee.
Mr Mackay told the committee he was not surprised his three-year term in the committee had not been renewed given he was constantly highlighting Mountjoy with prison authorities.
He said he was horrified at the “appalling conditions” in the prison: “I raised my concerns with the IPS and the Department of Justice and was met with denial, indifference, obfuscation and obstruction.”
He said Mountjoy was “micro-managed” by the IPS. “Management staff are beaten into the ground by the monolithic organisations of the IPS, and the man in charge, Brian Purcell.”
Mr Mackay said leaving inmates out to go to the toilets at night was “very rare” as there were only 18 prison officers looking after 700 prisoners at night. He said the Minister for Justice did not respond to visiting committee annual reports.
Mr Langton said the majority view of the visiting committee was Mountjoy was not “as bad” as Mr Mackay claimed. He said conditions there were improving and would improve “dramatically” if the recruitment embargo ended.
He accepted it was dangerous and said 128 prisoners were attacked by other inmates and 43 staff were attacked by prisoners in 2009.
He said there were between 14-17 gangs in Mountjoy.
He said the justice minister did respond to annual reports and his senior officials and the IPS dealt with issues, albeit not as speedily as he would like.
Mr Purcell rejected Mr MacKay’s claims and said there was no micro-managing of Mountjoy or Dóchas.
He said gang culture was a problem in Mountjoy and other prisons.
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