Inspector deems prison service a ‘disastrous failure’

THE late prisons inspector slammed the prison service as a disastrous failure in his final report to the Government.

Retired High Court judge, Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen, who died last July, also questioned the credentials of the director general of the prison service, Brian Purcell.

“While I respect him and believe that we have established a reasonably good working arrangement, I feel he does not have much experience in crime. He originally came from the Department of Social Welfare,” Mr Justice Kinlen said.