Prison staff question McDowell drug plans

PRISON officers and prisoner rights activists have backed questions raised by Mountjoy Prison governor, John Lonergan, about Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s plans to introduce mandatory drug testing and no-contact prison visits to combat drug use in jails.

The Prison Officers Association (POA) said Mr McDowell had not consulted its members on either issue despite the fact prison officers will be expected to implement the new policies.

The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) said the minster was opting for "spectacular" measures "for the optics" instead of tackling the root-and-branch causes of the drug problem.

Labour Party spokesman on justice, Joe Costello, accused the minister of taking a "bull in a china shop" approach to prison reform. "The whole affair calls into questions the minister's methods of reform without consultation or reference to those who have been running the prison service for years. Minister McDowell's disregard for their opinions and experience is staggering," he said.

Mr Lonergan, meanwhile, stood over comments he made in this newspaper yesterday when he said he would have great difficulty presiding over a regime where prisoners were subject to blanket drug testing and no-contact visits.

He has decided to quit the prison service when Mountjoy moves to new premises designed to give effect to the minister's get-tough anti-drug policy. He said the timing of his retirement and the Mountjoy move were coincidental but he was opposed to what he believed was an overly simplistic approach to the drugs problem.

"Fifty per cent of the Mountjoy population leave school before the age of 15, 80% are unemployed and one in four have an in-patient psychiatric history before they enter prison ... it's a very difficult undertaking and I believe there is no one particular answer," he said.

Mr Lonergan said the policy displayed a failure to understand the nature of addiction. "You have to ask which comes first addiction or criminality. Addiction is the destruction of the person physically, emotionally, mentally and morally. You have to rebuild that person from scratch. We do not have adequate resources either inside or outside [prison] to do that."

POA information officer, Nigel Mallen, said the organisation was deeply concerned about the level of drug use in prisons but believed all addicted inmates should have access to a comprehensive drug treatment programme.

A spokesman for the Justice Department rejected the criticisms. "The minister has discussed all this with the Irish Prison Service which is in regular contact with prison officers, he has spoken to the prison governor himself about this and he is well aware of the views of the other groups."