Secret report attacks State’s failure to act on prisons

THE Inspector of Prisons, Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen, has delivered a scathing attack on the Government for its failure to support his office and act on his complaints about prison conditions.

In a confidential report, seen by the Irish Examiner, the retired High Court Judge reveals his deep anger at the lack of political backing for his office.

In a circular addressed to prisons management and the Department of Justice, Mr Justice Kinlen reveals evidence of chronic overcrowding and violence in Mountjoy Prison. He says there were occasionally sexual assaults on inmates, many of whom were frightened "country boys", first offenders or illegal immigrants. Mountjoy Governor John Lonergan as Justice Kinlen admits in the report does not stand over the claims.

In an extraordinary exchange with a prisoner who asked him about the possibility of using his influence to engineer a transfer, Mr Justice Kinlen said the Oireachtas had not yet clarified his powers. Later in the report, he writes of his "so-called contract" and even signs off: "Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention, without any statutory authority or powers."

The judge is also contemptuous of the Mountjoy visiting committee, claiming it has been "rendered totally impotent".

In the circular, written just days after visiting Mountjoy earlier this month, he says the Oireachtas is in no rush to place his office on a statutory basis.

This is the second occasion on which Mr Justice Kinlen has criticised the Government. He was appointed the State's first Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention in April 2002 and in his inaugural report last July he called for the demolition of Mountjoy and Portlaoise prisons because of their "unacceptable" condition. He also criticised the Department of Justice for being "slow to provide any information".

"The fact that they wanted me to take six months off to read myself into the job and wanted me to go on a tour of Western Australia and possibly New Zealand shows their peculiar mindset," the inspector wrote.

Mr Justice Kinlen, who will hold the inspector's position until 2007, visited Mountjoy after receiving reports from staff about the conditions in the basement holding cells.

In his report, he said that on the day before his visit 19 prisoners were held in two holding cells, each of which is designed to accommodate just five inmates. Just before Christmas, the prison log revealed 21 were held in the two cells. Inmates sleep on mattresses covered by dirty duvet covers and the sink is used as a urinal, he reports.

"These cells were never intended as sleeping quarters for prisoners," he says.

The Irish Prison Service said there were surges in numbers from time to time as Mountjoy is Dublin's main committal prison. Inmates are held overnight in the holding cells before being transferred to the landings. On the day Mr Justice Kinlen visited, January 5, there were only six prisoners in the holding cells.

The Department of Justice failed to comment last night.