Shelton’s ‘liberal regime’

INMATES at Shelton Abbey could walk out the gates of the open prison if they wanted. There are no high fences or walls surrounding the country house-style Wicklow estate.

“You can come and go as you please. If you wanted to walk out, you could walk out,” said one prison officer. Only a handful of prisoners have absconded, most famously the Jennifer Guinness kidnapper John Cunningham, who fled the facility in 1996, ten years into a 17-year sentence.

All of the inmates, who are evaluated as suitable for transfer, are coming close to the end of their sentences, and many are on day release. Although there’s a certain element of trust, for most there is little incentive to walk out the gates and risk being sent back into the main prison system.

At any one time, there are around 40 prisoners at the unit, all of them deemed eligible by the Parole Broad for transfer after psychiatric and other evaluations.

Inmates sleep in either bedrooms or dormitories and there is no lock down at night. Inmates not on day release spend their days gardening while there is also an established programme of painting.

Said one prison insider: “It’s a very liberal regime. It’s really, really relaxed.”