Officers injured as inmates run amok

MOUNTJOY JAIL, which prison bosses have likened to a pressure cooker, boiled over again yesterday as inmates ran amok and attacked staff.

The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) claimed the riot — the second in the prison in eight months — stemmed from overcrowding and poor facilities.

The POA said there were 643 inmates crammed into the jail yesterday morning, at least 100 more than the bed capacity cited by the Prison Service and almost 200 more than the capacity estimated by the POA.

At 9.20am, two officers working on the B1 landing were injured, although not seriously, in an incident and had to be hospitalised.

One officer was involved in a scuffle in a prison cell with a couple of inmates and had to be helped by other officers. Another officer was jumped on when an inmate tried to take his keys to the landing.

Prisoners on landings overlooking B1 then emptied their chamber pots on to the landing and, according to one prison source, “ran amok”. The entire prison was locked down and inmates secured behind their cells as order was restored.

A POA spokesman said, while the exact spark for the incident was unclear, it stemmed from overcrowding and poor facilities.

“Overall, it boils down to overcrowding, which results in lack of facilities for prisoners, which causes frustration between staff and prisoners, which leads to violence and aggression.”

Last summer, a confidential Prison Service report said Mountjoy, which then had a population of 540, was like a “pressure cooker”.

The Care and Custody Audit, which was published by the Irish Examiner, said prison numbers “must be controlled” and “constructive activities” put in place.

Mr Mitchell said the number of inmates reached 660 on February 18 and large numbers were sleeping on the floor in the reception area and on the landings. He said security was sometimes “on a wing and a prayer”.

A Prison Service spokesman yesterday said there had been a “consistent increase” in numbers across the system in recent years, with a “dramatic rise” in the last year. He said there were 3,811 people in custody as of yesterday. This is 4% higher than last December and 12% higher than December 2007.

The spokesman said 400 spaces were coming on stream this year. However, due to “serious pressure”, the Prison Service had to double up cells in Mountjoy, Wheatfield, Cloverhill, Midlands and Arbour Hill, providing 180 extra places.

He said “as the pressure shows no sign of abating”, the Prison Service director general, Brian Purcell, had instructed governors to double up even more cells to create 200 additional temporary bed spaces.