Prison inspector left position 'due to attempts to undermine her office'

Patricia Gilheaney referenced elements in the department, the Irish Prison Service, and the Prison Officers Association as counteracting her attempts to fulfil her statutory duty. Picture: Jason Clarke

The outgoing inspector of prisons has told the minister for justice that her decision to leave the job before her contract expired was because of the constant attempts to undermine her office, the Irish Examiner has learnt.

Patricia Gilheaney told Justice Minister Helen McEntee that she couldn't “in all conscience” continue in her role because she had been thwarted in carrying out her duties at every step. 

According to departmental sources, Ms Gilheaney referenced elements in the department, the Irish Prison Service, and the Prison Officers Association as counteracting her attempts to fulfil her statutory duty.

The meeting took place last week, on the day before Ms Gilheaney officially left the inspector’s office, despite her contract running until 2023. 

Before taking up the office, she had served as chief executive of the Mental Health Commission and was widely regarded as a dedicated and competent public servant.

Ms Gilheaney also submitted to the minister a long-awaited and overdue statutory report into bullying and intimidation in the women’s prison, the Dochas Centre. 

In August 2020, the inspector’s office became aware of serious issues at the prison including an allegation that some staff members induced a prisoner to make a complaint about another staff member. 

Ms Gilheaney brought her concerns to the minister who ordered the inquiry under Section 31 of the Prisons Act. She was supposed to complete her report in December 2020 but it was delayed by more than a year. 

Failure of staff to cooperate

The Irish Examiner has previously reported that the investigation was repeatedly delayed over a failure of various staff to cooperate promptly by presenting for interview.

Meanwhile, in September 2020, the chaplain for the Dochas Centre left her position citing work-related stress. Claire Hargaden wrote to the director general of the IPS at the time stating that the inmates had described their lives as “hell”.

“The women in custody here report to me that they live in fear,” Ms Hargaden wrote.

At last week’s meeting, Ms Gilheaney briefed the minister on the departure of Ms Hargaden and the controversial suspension of a female officer in the Dochas.

She also informed the minister that her Section 31 investigation had yielded disturbing evidence that was outside the terms of reference of the inquiry but would be submitted by the inspector’s office in due course.

However, according to departmental sources, the overall thrust of the meeting was the complaint that it was not possible to properly fulfil the inspectorate role under the current circumstances in which resources and proper oversight power were constrained.

Limitations of office

The limits of the office of the Inspector of Prisons have been a constant theme with bodies such as the Irish Penal Reform Trust. 

In 2019, on the publication of another Section 31 inquiry report, the then minister for justice, Charlie Flanagan, announced that a new oversight body for the prison service would be introduced. 

This was in response to the report compiled by Ms Gilheaney which had discovered malpractice and shortcomings in oversight in the IPS. 

Mr Flanagan said that a new prison board would be established under an independent chair as well as new audit, risk and culture committees; since then no new board or oversight body has been introduced.

Attempts to contact Ms Gilheaney were unsuccessful. Questions submitted to the Department of Justice yesterday morning had not received a response at the time of going to print.