The Joy

MOUNTJOY Prison, known colloquially as “the Joy”, has been the alma mater for some of this country’s most hardened and notorious criminals.

The largest committal facility of its kind in the country, the Joy, a closed, medium-security prison, has for decades been the nucleus of Ireland’s prison system.

In 1850, when it first closed its doors, it was known as Ireland’s model prison. Designed by Colonel Joshua Jebb, the architect of Pentonville Prison in England, it was intended as the first stop for men sentenced to transportation. After a spell in the Joy, prisoners were transferred to Spike Island before they were shipped out to Van Diemen’s Land.