Two contract workers accidentally trapped in Midlands Prison

The Irish Prison Service confirmed an incident occurred in the Midlands Prison.

Two contract workers were accidentally locked in the Midlands Prison overnight in the same building as some of Ireland’s most dangerous criminals and killers.

Despite shouting for help and banging on gates, the two workers were locked in until a kitchen worker arrived at 7am.

It is understood that they worked through much of the night, completing two days' worth of work in one night.

The two workers arrived at the Midlands Prison at 4pm on Wednesday. They were supposed to finish work at approximately 10pm, but could not find their way out. A prison worker reportedly found them at 7am and they left the prison at 7.30am.

Prison staff say that any civilian entering the prison must be accompanied by a prison officer.

But for some reason, these two contract workers were permitted entry without the usual escort system in place.

It is also understood that a security sweep happened to take place at approximately 5am, but this too failed to uncover the trapped workers.

“They were left there all night,” said one prison worker.

There’s been a laissez-faire attitude to security from some management. 

"Prison escorts are there for security, for health and safety, I don’t know why an escort was not granted this time. It is unprecedented to leave two men in the prison kitchen overnight.

“The kitchen is deep within the Midlands Prison, about half a kilometre in. You have to go through three sets of gates to get there. They were banging on the gates but no one could hear them.” 

The Irish Prison Service confirmed an incident occurred in the Midlands Prison on September 7. The Prison Service has commenced an investigation into the incident, an IPS spokesperson said.

The incident has raised concerns among some people working in the prison about what they describe as a lax security regime.

Visit to James O'Reilly

In January, another incident raised concerns about prison security when the now-deceased serial rapist and abuser James O’Reilly was permitted “an unprecedented” visit from eight people in his unlocked prison cell.

Midlands Prison Service staff said the visit to the late Tipperary man James O’Reilly, who was convicted in 2020 of repeatedly raping and abusing his seven daughters and his sister, presented a security risk and was “immoral”.

O’Reilly, who is in his 70s, was convicted of 58 counts of rape and nine counts of sexual assault on his family over a 23-year period.

He also starved, beat, and threatened to kill his victims.

O’Reilly’s cell was in the G1 division, close to notorious murderer Gerald Barry, who killed 17-year-old Swiss student Manuela Riedo in 2007, and Graham Dwyer, who is serving a life sentence for murdering childcare worker Elaine O’Hara in 2012.

Eight people were nearby in O'Reilly's unlocked cell with little to no supervision at night, prison staff told the Irish Examiner.

Although that visit is understood to have been allowed on compassionate grounds as O’Reilly was very ill at the time, some family members who he systematically abused over many years were angry about that visit.

His daughter Helen O’Donoghue, who O’Reilly repeatedly raped and abused, said that allowing the visit was horrifying.