Plans to close open prisons criticised as ‘rehabilitation disaster’

PLANS to close the State’s two remaining open prisons were criticised yesterday.

The Prison Officers' Association (POA) and the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) said the move would be a backward step.

"It would be a disaster from a rehabilitation point of view," said POA general secretary John Clinton. The closures are part of contingency plans by the Prison Service to shut four prisons to stay within budget if prison officers turn down an offer on overtime pay.

The four prisons are:

l Shelton Abbey, Co Wicklow the open prison has 50 inmates at the moment.

l Loughan House, Co Cavan the open prison has 74 inmates.

l Curragh Detention Centre, Co Kildare the closed prison mainly holds clerical sex offenders.

l Fort Mitchel, Co Cork the closed prison has 89 inmates.

Under the plan, the 300 prisoners would serve out their time and be released or transferred to other prisons.

It is understood Midlands Prison, Co Laois, could take an additional 135 prisoners.

The POA national executive committee will meet today to decide on whether to recommend to its members to accept or reject the overtime offer. The 3,200 members will be balloted towards the end of the week or early next week.

Mr Clinton said the Prison Service was looking at all institutions from a purely financial point of view.

But he pointed out that Curragh and Loughan House were full to capacity and were particularly cost-effective.

IRPT chief executive Rick Lines questioned the way the Department of Justice and the Prison Service were operating. He said: "They seem to be either manufacturing a crisis or responding to it in a way that is not particularly well thought out. They seem to be leaping about from idea to idea."

He said any plan to close the remaining open centres would be a bad idea.

"They benefit both those who have just started crime and those at the other end of the process, who have been incarcerated for a longer period of time and need to readjust, before release. Closing open prisons really reduces the options for prisoners and programming."

Last year, penal reformers joined with prison officers, probation workers and academics in criticising the decision by Justice Minister Michael McDowell to close Shanganagh Castle open prison.

A spokesman for the Prison Service declined to comment on the planned closures, apart to say it was speculation at this stage.