Last 13 prisoners leave Spike as prison closes

CORK’S Fort Mitchel prison closed yesterday and the last 13 prisoners held there were transferred to Limerick Prison.

The Spike Island facility will remain closed while the dispute between prison officers and management continues. Justice Minister Michael McDowell has promised it will re-open.

Around 50 inmates, in their late teens and early 20s, were held in the prison prior to the first transfers starting two weeks ago. It has capacity for 102 and prison officers claim it was being run down even before the closure plan was publicly revealed last November.

The closure has been criticised by staff, politicians and teachers. It’s widely regarded as one of the more progressive facilities, with advanced education and work training programmes.

Four Cork TDs joined forces to lobby the Justice Minister on the issue. Fine Gael's Simon Coveney and David Staunton; the Labour Party's Kathleen Lynch, and Dan Boyle of the Green Party described it as one of the best-run prisons.

Some of those transferred to Limerick and St Patrick’s in Dublin may be seriously affected by the move as they will no longer benefit from the prison’s education service and its largely drug-free environment, the politicians claim. It was further argued there was only one suicide in the prison since it opened in 1985.

Around 100 staff have been transferred to Limerick, some within the last few days, others last year.

Spike Island, along with the Curragh in Kildare, have closed and two other facilities will be transferred out of the prison service as part of a strategy dramatically to cut spending this year while the dispute between staff and management continues.

The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has rejected management’s proposal to scrap overtime in favour of an annualised hours system. Negotiations have broken down and the POA is to ballot its members on industrial action.

A former naval base, Fort Mitchel first opened as a prison for young male offenders in 1985. It did house prisoners previously, in the 19th century.

Of the 3,674 male convicts in Ireland in 1853, around 2,500 were held on Spike Island.