McDowell's jail plans hit as Mountjoy boss to quit

JUSTICE MINISTER Michael McDowell's plans for hard-hitting jail reforms have been dealt a blow with the decision by the country's best-known prison governor to quit when the changes kick in.

Mountjoy Prison's John Lonergan says he will not head up the jail when it moves from its central Dublin location to a greenfield site on the outskirts of the capital where it is to meant to become the centrepiece of the prisons network and a model for the operation of all jails.

Disclosure of his plans to quit six years early came as he and Mr McDowell clashed over the minister's plans to drive drugs out of prisons through a series of controversial measures including mandatory drug testing of inmates and an end to physical contact between inmates and families during visits.