Overcrowding feeds Mountjoy ‘powder keg’

SERIOUS overcrowding in Mountjoy Prison, combined with the hot weather, is creating a “powder keg” in the jail, penal reformers have warned.

The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) said that the population of the prison climbed even further yesterday, reaching 602.

Mountjoy has a disputed capacity: 540 according to the Prison Service; 464 according to the Prison Inspector and 351 according to the local POA branch.

Penal reformers and the POA were reacting to an internal Prison Service audit on Mountjoy Prison, which was published in yesterday’s Irish Examiner.

The audit, conducted in June 2007, said the prison population had to be kept at “less than the present maximum”, which then stood at around 540. It said failure to do this would feed into the “pressure cooker mentality and culture” in the prison.

“With the current weather, the population levels in Mountjoy can truly be characterised as a powder keg,” said Liam Herrick of the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT).

Fr Charlie Hoey, one of the chaplains at the prison, said: “The Prison Service talks of 540 as the capacity, although it changes. Whatever it is, we are over it. The numbers keep building up, we have committals every day. We have people sleeping on mattresses on the floor. The high numbers of prisoners are contributing to the tension.”

He added: “Heat is a big factor, particularly for those on protection, who are on 23 hours-a-day lock-up. We have five prisoners in a four-man cell at the moment. There’s no proper ventilation, they have access to showers once a week. Every year we have serious incidents, it’s always the summer time.”

POA president Jim Mitchell said the “pressure cooker” situation mentioned in the report was primarily caused by overcrowding and this was the main contributory factor to the recent disturbance at Mountjoy.

“It is worth noting that as of July 28, 2008, a scant fortnight since the disturbance in Mountjoy, the numbers in custody are 602, more again than were in custody when the disturbance occurred,” said Mr Mitchell. “This is proof, if proof were needed, of the glaring deficiencies in the Irish Prison Service’s methods of addressing overcrowding.”

He said the decision to close Shanganagh Castle, the Curragh Prison and Fort Mitchel, with the loss of 300 spaces, was “ill conceived” as they would have offered a way to ease overcrowding.

Fr Hoey said too many people were being jailed for non-payment of fines and they were taking up spaces.

He also said the number of people looking for protection was increasing.