Prison staff fear bunk bed syndrome undoing potential for good work

PRISON officers and chaplains working in Wheatfield believe the good work in the prison is being seriously jeopardised by a growing overcrowding problem.

The prison has a capacity of 320. With the closure of two of the prison’s 20 units last year to make way for a new extension, this effectively reduced its capacity to 304.

When the Irish Examiner visited, Governor Lennon said there were 372 inmates and that a large number of cells were doubled up.

A week later prison officers said the number had risen to 399 after 20 more cells were doubled up.

In addition, prison officers and the chaplains are concerned about the new extension due to open next February.

They fear the 170-plus new spaces will be quickly filled, placing pressure on rehabilitation services and staff levels.

“Wheatfield is one of the better prisons,” said Sr Imelda Wickham, co-ordinator of the Prison Chaplains’ Association and based in Wheatfield.

“The workshops are very impressive, they are state-of-the-art. Prisoners do get good training there.

“The pity is more people can’t use it. The more you increase the number of prisoners, the less and less people get access to the workshops.”

Prison Officers’ Association general secretary John Clinton spent 10 years in Wheatfield.

“The prison was designed for 320. It was supposed to be on the basis of full employment and 320 prisoners. It was operating well, but now the bunk bed syndrome has come in.”

He said the prison suffered from a decision made by former justice minister Michael McDowell, when he made Wheatfield a committal prison for the courts following the 2006 murder of Gary Douch in Mountjoy.

This was supposed to ease overcrowding in Mountjoy, which, he said, it hadn’t, and worsened the problem in Wheatfield.

A prison officer source at Wheatfield said the prison’s committal unit “nearly always” had 30-32 people in a space designed for 16.

“With the extension, we’ll have over 570. We’ll have gone from 320.

“Three-to-four years ago this was a model prison. This time next year it will be a disaster.”

Mr Lennon said “quite a few” of the cells were doubled up. “As a general rule we have six doubles per unit of 16 cells, so you could have anything from 16 to 22 in a unit,” he said, adding that he tried to keep certain offenders, such as lifers, and the two drug-free units, single cell.

He said he noted the concerns of prison officers about the closure of two units, but said they had to do this to build access to the new extension, which he said would have capacity for 176 people.