The funeral of the Inspector of Prisons, former High Court judge Dermot Kinlen, is taking place today.

STRIKING tributes were paid yesterday in Kerry to former High Court judge, Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen, who died at his holiday home in Sneem. He was in his late 70s.

Tributes were paid today to the Inspector of Prisons, Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen, who died at his Kerry home.

Former High Court judge Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen has died at his residence in the early hours of this morning.

The appointment of Dermot Kinlen as the country’s first statutory Inspector of Prisons is a welcome development.

OUTSPOKEN Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen is to be the country’s first statutory Inspector of Prisons.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has confirmed that one of the killers of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe will be released on May 17, as first revealed by the Irish Examiner on Monday.

None of the killers of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe will be released early, apart from their statutory entitlement to remission for good behaviour, the Taoiseach told the Dáil today.

A MIDLANDS prison has more than 20 sex offenders, but has no treatment programme for them.

REWARDS of extra television channels and more movies as an incentive to inmates trying to kick drug habits have been backed by the Inspector of Prisons.

EVIDENCE of widespread bullying in one jail against inmates, particularly foreigners, has been uncovered by the Inspectors of Prisons.

SMUGGLED drugs are leading to gangland feuds in Limerick prison, with prisoners being put into 23-hour lock-up for their own protection, a report by the Inspector of Prisons has found.

JUSTICE MINISTER Michael McDowell has back tracked on his original plans regarding the establishment of the prison inspectorate.

THE Government yesterday confirmed that it plans to shut down St Patrick’s Institution — but it did not say when.

What an extraordinary attack Justice Minister Michael McDowell launched at the Inspector of Prisons, retired High Court judge Dermot Kinlen, in a radio interview at the weekend.

NOT for the first time has Justice Minister Michael McDowell inexplicably turned a deaf ear to the scandalous conditions that prevail in Mountjoy Prison, the country’s largest jail.

JUSTICE MINISTER Michael McDowell is using St Patrick’s Institution as a “warehouse for young people” where they can learn the finer points of crime, the Prison Inspector claimed yesterday.

Pressure was mounting on Michael McDowell today following the suicide of an inmate at Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison.

THE appointment of a former Justice Department official to investigate last week’s murder of Gary Douch in Mountjoy Prison has been criticised by the Inspector of Prisons, Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen.

FORMER High Court judge Dermot Kinlen is well placed to be critical of the manner in which the independent inquiry into the death of Gary Douch in Mountjoy Prison is being conducted.

THE necessity to establish an independent inquiry into the death of a prisoner in Mountjoy Prison is indicative of the intolerable overcrowding conditions that have been allowed to flourish in recent years by the policy of the present Government, spearheaded by Justice Minister Michael McDowell.

A prisoner was tonight being questioned about the killing of a drug dealer in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell yesterday said he was expanding capacity in a number of prisons to deal with overcrowding problems.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell last night hit back at trenchant criticism of the prison system by outspoken Inspector of Prisons Dermot Kinlen, who had described the system as a “total failure”.

The Justice Minister has said he's not surprised by the Inspector of Prisons accusation that the Irish Prison System is a total failure.

FORTY offenders escaped from an open prison over a 12-month period, a jail inspection report revealed yesterday.

THE return of the revolving prison door is “inevitable”, such is the overcrowding crisis in jails, prison officers claimed yesterday.

The Midlands Prison has a very high rate of staff absences with an average of 20 people on sick leave each day, the Prisons Inspector said today.

OVER €5 million has been spent on plans to develop a prison that is due to close, according to the Prison Inspector.

The drug free Training Unit in Mountjoy Prison should be kept in Dublin and not moved to a new complex miles from the capital, the Inspector of Prisons said today.

INCREASING numbers of prisoners are being given temporary release as a result of the closure of two jails, it was claimed yesterday.

Cormac O'Keeffe

PARTS of the Inspector of Prisons’ annual report to the Justice Minister were deleted as they were deemed to be defamatory, the department said yesterday.

THE inhibitions maintained against the proper inspection of prisons, as outlined by former High Court Judge Dermot Kinlen, constitute a serious indictment of the Department of Justice.

THE Inspector of Prisons has accused the Department of Justice of trying to cover up unacceptable conditions in jails.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell last night threatened to privatise new jails unless prison officers accept his pay offer within 10 days.

PRIVATE prisons should be tried as an experiment to see if commercial companies could handle inmates more cheaply and efficiently than the Irish Prison Service, according to the Inspector of Prisons.

The Inspector of Prisons has recommended that Irish jails be privatised in an effort to make them more efficient and cost-effective.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell was yesterday accused of “censoring” the Inspector of Prisons under new plans.

John Breslin

THE detention of juveniles will continue to serve a limited purpose unless society addresses the factors which contribute to delinquency, the governor of Mountjoy prison has claimed.

THE Inspector of Prisons has launched another attack on the Department of Justice, branding its attitude to prisoners with less severe mental health problems as “unchristian, inhumane and self-serving.”

THE country’s most serious prisoners are to get a state-of-the-art sports facility and new en suite cells.

AT the funeral Mass of Máirín Lynch in Cork’s North Cathedral yesterday, an old friend flicked through a small photo album and fought back tears.