Former Mountjoy governor blames gangs and feuds after prison death

Robert O'Connor from Snowdrop Walk, Darndale in Dublin, died in hospital on Tuesday night. He was attacked in his cell on Friday evening and sustained serious head injuries. Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

The former governor of Mountjoy Prison has warned that gang and drug feuds are responsible for violence in prisons and that if someone was determined to attack another prisoner then they would get the opportunity.

Referring to the death of a 34-year-old inmate at Mountjoy following an attack last week, John Lonergan said there was no guarantee that such attacks will never happen again.

Robert O'Connor, from Snowdrop Walk, Darndale in Dublin, died in hospital on Tuesday night. He was attacked in his cell on Friday evening and sustained serious head injuries.

Gardaí have opened a murder investigation following the fatal assault.

Any individual incarcerated should expect that their safety was guaranteed, Mr Lonergan said, but the reality was that there was always a risk. 

On rare occasions people suffered severe injuries and death, while beatings were pretty common, he added.

Gangs and feuds

Speaking on RTÉ radio, Mr Lonergan said that prior to 25 years ago there were very few assaults in prison as there were no gangs or feuds. 

That was changed now which was a sign of the brutal reality and the rise in violence in prisons all of which was a drain on staff and resources, he said.

There were now more than 400 prisoners in protective custody — a tenth of the prison population. These prisoners had to be taken out of the mainstream prison population so their safety could be enhanced.

Gardaí believe Mr O’Connor was lured to the cell of another prisoner for the purposes of being attacked, though the incident went wrong and resulted in his death.

Mr Lonergan explained that while prisoners could not just walk about freely, there was the freedom to "drop into" the cell of another prisoner “to pick up something”.

In 99% of cases that was normal and safe, but if someone set out to organise an attack it would be difficult to stop them in these circumstances.

Young prisoners recruited

He added that, unfortunately, gang and drug activity continued inside all prisons. Occasionally young prisoners were recruited to join a gang inside prison in the mistaken belief that it would give them protection.

These unknowns with no previous gang affiliation could then be used by gangs to carry out attacks. It was difficult for prison staff to identify such people and intervene, Mr Lonergan said.

The feeling within the prison system after a killing like that of Mr O’Connor was a sense of failure, that they had failed to carry out their number one priority which was the safety of prisoners.

“It is depressing, it lowers morale. Sadly you can’t guarantee that it won’t happen again.”