‘Rigid, inflexible culture’ forces St Pat’s closure

A “rigid, inflexible culture” and the persistent behaviour of a “small cohort” of prison officers has forced the authorities to scrap St Patrick’s Institution, the head of the Irish Prison Service has said.

Director general Michael Donnellan said the fact that the Inspector of Prisons found the same culture of abuse in St Patrick’s — that he identified and condemned last October during visits in March — was “not acceptable”.

Mr Donnellan said despite the injection of significant resources into St Patrick’s, including new management and outside independent investigators, they hadn’t been able to change the culture.