Public hysteria is over the top, says ex-Mountjoy boss
John Lonergan said hundreds of convicted sex offenders had been released from prison in recent years with many successfully settling back into normal life.
Mr Lonergan’s comments come just days after the convicted 45-year-old rapist walked free from Arbour Hill Prison.
Murphy, a carpenter by trade, previously carried out work at Mountjoy Prison including fixing doors before he was caught in 2000 after the horrific rape and attempted killing of a woman in the Wicklow Mountains.
Mr Lonergan said: “Anyone with common sense will say that communities have a right to be protected and I can understand their fear and their anxiety. On the other hand, a person who has been sentenced, who has served their sentence, also has the right to mend his or her ways and to reintegrate back into society.”
Protesters gathered outside one north Dublin half- way house only hours after Murphy’s release this week in the mistaken belief that he was inside.
Mr Lonergan criticised the public hysteria surrounding Murphy’s release and said low-key monitoring of the rapist was the best way forward.
“Personally, I think the way it’s being dealt with by the gardaí, managing on a low-profile basis but monitoring the person, that is the only way. Any other thing like society taking it into their own hands and standing outside houses picketing, that’s over the top.”
Mr Lonergan, a strong advocate of prisoners’ rights, said many released offenders were able to return to normal lives.
He told Newstalk 106FM’s Lunchtime Show: “That individual [Murphy] isn’t the only individual – there’s hundreds of people who have records of rape and serious assaults of women and have been released. Some of them have totally reintegrated and never re-offended, we should remember that. We must have the belief that people can change.”
