Prison Service splurges on sports gear

Anyone for tennis? Or badminton, volleyball, basketball, soccer or boxing?

Yesterday, the Irish Prison Service (IPS) confirmed a taxpayer-funded splurge on a whole range of sports equipment for the prison population which includes murderers, gangland bosses, fraudsters, and robbers.

In response to a freedom of information request, the Department of Justice has confirmed that prisoners at the country’s best known prison, Dublin’s Mountjoy campus, own a total of 55 Playstation consoles. However, Playstation-owning inmates across the prison system are about to be given more reason to tear themselves away from the virtual goings on of Grand Theft Auto and play a whole range of sports.

In a tender published yesterday, the IPS is seeking firms to supply a range of sports goods over three years. The spend by the IPS on the sports equipment is part of the approximate €65,000 cost per prisoner per year.

A IPS spokesman confirmed yesterday that the sports equipment is for prisoners’ recreational areas.

Many of those behind bars today are in jail for using their fists during the course of assaults and the tender will also satisfy boxing enthusiasts.

This follows the IPS ordering a punch bag, boxing mitts, and focus pads with skipping ropes.