Mountjoy Prison - McDowell should heed inspector

NOT for the first time has Justice Minister Michael McDowell inexplicably turned a deaf ear to the scandalous conditions that prevail in Mountjoy Prison, the country’s largest jail.

He has been warned time and again by the Prison Inspector, retired High Court judge, Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen, not just about Mountjoy but the defects in the prison system generally.

Now, the outmoded, decrepit, overcrowded and drugs infested institution stands as a warped reminder of what is worst in our prison system.

Two deaths on Thursday in the space of 12 hours, a suicide in a protection cell and an overdose, following on the murder three weeks ago of another inmate in a holding cell, brought tension to a dangerous level.

A number of gang-related conflicts added to the friction in the jail, to the point where prison officers stood by in riot gear.

Mountjoy is a disaster waiting to happen, one that will occur sooner rather than later unless the Government intervenes and takes immediate action, as it is apparent that the minister will not.

Mr McDowell stubbornly refuses to listen to the Prison Inspector, his own appointee to the post.

Dispersing prisoners in Leinster to other jails, as he proposes to do, is inadequate to meet the problems that are the prison system, not just in Mountjoy and not just overcrowding.

The Government should also heed the report of the visiting committee to Mountjoy Prison, an independent, statutory watchdog, part of whose remit is to oversee the treatment of prisoners.

It condemned the jail because of its “deplorable” conditions, being understaffed and overcrowded, and because of its drugs problem, recommended sniffer dogs, extra gardaí and screened visits.

So abysmal and inhumane are the conditions that exist in Mountjoy Prison that the opposition parties have demanded a fresh inquiry into the jail.

It is due for closure, but in the meantime the problems that fester there are urgently in need of attention.

One of the factors that compound the crisis in Mountjoy, because that is what it is, is the continued existence of St Patrick’s Institution which holds almost 200 young people between the ages of 16 and 21 years.

Mr Justice Kinlen has rightly said that the institution, the only juvenile detention centre in the country, should be shut down immediately.

It is, ultimately, a type of feeder system for Mountjoy, and the Prison Inspector practically said so. He accused the minister of using St Patrick’s “as a warehouse for young people,” who learnt the finer points of criminality there, which almost certainly guaranteed their progression to the “university” of Mountjoy.

Throughout this week, the Irish Examiner has highlighted the dire problems in the juvenile justice system here, without early intervention, which sees too many young people end up in that “university”, having had their criminal skills honed in St Patrick’s.

The closure of that centre is unlikely to be announced by the Government on Monday, but Minister for Children Brian Lenihan has promised to disclose a series of measures to prevent children from disadvantaged backgrounds becoming involved in crime.

Any initiative that could possibly reduce the rate of criminality here has to be welcomed, moreover if it can rescue a young person from a futile life of crime.