40 offenders escaped open prison in one year

FORTY offenders escaped from an open prison over a 12-month period, a jail inspection report revealed yesterday.

The report, carried out last October, revealed that despite plans to overhaul services at Shelton Abbey, 20 inmates were still at large.

The inspection noted there were “a considerable number of absconders in view of the overall numbers held in the centre”.

It also noted that the smuggling of illegal drugs into the prison was an “ongoing problem”.

The open facility, however, which is home to notorious murderer Malcolm MacArthur, is expected to get a library and extra staff. MacArthur, the State’s longest-serving prisoner, is serving a life sentence there for the murder of nurse Bridie Gargan in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, in 1982.

Prison inspectors have been told that facilities for the 45 inmates, including MacArthur, will be upgraded.

A psychologist has also been recommended to visit the open prison twice a week.

Concern was also raised about medical facilities at the Co Wicklow centre. The surgery needs a defibrillator.

The prison also needs qualified councillors, both drug and alcohol-linked, for at least two days a week. After testing, some offenders transferred to the open grounds were found to have used cannabis or opiates.

The Irish Prisons Inspectorate report published yesterday also said inmates sent to finish sentences at Shelton Abbey should have at least 12 months left to serve. It served no purpose sending prisoners to the open centre just before their release, Inspector Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen said.

Mr Justice Kinlen’s latest report on Loughan House open prison in Co Cavan was also published yesterday.

It stated prisoners still had no psychological services three years after the Inspectorate said they should be put in place.

Psychiatric services also remain inadequate despite the problem being highlighted in May 2003, and there is still no addiction counsellor for the 110 inmates, although the necessity was stressed at that time.

Mr Justice Kinlen said the situation had actually worsened since his previous visit as the Probation and Welfare Officer had been withdrawn in January this year and there was now no probation service at all.

Mr Justice Kinlen noted that the future of Loughan House had been in doubt at the time of his last visit. While those difficulties had been resolved, he said there should be a major review of all the State’s open prisons.

“A prisoner should have the longer part of his sentence to serve when sent to the open centre, rather than the last few weeks of his sentence, as the present practice leaves it very difficult to provide meaningful work or education.”