Alison O’Connor: Ex prisoners show positive change is possible following bad decisions
Irish Prison Services' Head of Psychological Services Dr Emma Regan says that if you build people up in prison, they are better equipped for the outside world when they are released. Picture: Moya Nolan
Tom is a father of two children in secondary school. He wants to set a good example for them. He does know that having their dad in prison, serving a lengthy sentence, is not a great place to start.
But at 37 he is using his time in Mountjoy Prison to turn his life around. His first time in prison he began by going back to school, having left at 15, and is now studying for a degree. Before that when he was doing the Leaving Cert he’d talk to his kids about the subjects.
Tom is one of the many prisoners across the country taking part in the first Irish Prison Service (IPS) Mental Health Awareness Week for prisoners and staff.
There are a number of initiatives across 12 sites, with 4,400 prisoners, including resilience courses, learning about good mental health, empathy and the effects of trauma.
In Mountjoy now there is a Park Run every Saturday in the prison, and every second weekend members of the public are invited to join the run and stay for a cup of tea and a chat afterwards.
At Shelton Abbey Prison in Co Wicklow the plan at the end of the mental health week is to invite prisoners’ families for a run or a nature walk, organised by the Wicklow Library Service, and a barbecue.
Last Monday, in Mountjoy there were seminars for prisoners by the Two Norries — James Leonard and Timmy Long — based on their own experiences, selling the message that change is possible once you put the work in.
IPS Head of Psychology Dr Emma Regan had the idea for the mental health week.
“People in prison experience exactly the same mental health issues as people in the community such as psychosis, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety, depression.
“But what we see are more extreme presentations, people have had more complex lives, complex trauma as children.
“Custody is very often the first time they have had stability.”
Out of the overall prison population around half are seeing or waiting to see a psychologist. Violent offenders are automatically referred to the service, as are 18- to 24-year olds because of the risk of recidivism, some have to attend for parole reasons.
But a majority of those waiting have mental health issues, some very significant. There are acute staff shortages and the IPS has started sponsoring psychology training.
Dr Regan explained that if you build people up in custody, you make them better equipped to handle challenges when they leave prison. Just as Tom explained, it is also about the importance of family relationships, especially with children.
Some of the statistics involved starkly illustrate the importance of intervention.
“If you are a man in custody and you have a son, it is six times more likely that child will go on to end up in custody,” she said.
“If we can support and normalise mental health conversations, trauma and addiction, with people in custody, they in turn are more likely to talk to family about it, like grief about Dad being in custody.”
Tom, who has two children, both in secondary school, says he is trying to set a decent example to his children.
“It is tough when you are in prison, but I want to try to be in a position of influence as I was before.
“One of the things I can talk to them about is education,” said the prisoner who is also a Red Cross volunteer in Mountjoy.
In the main unit prisoners are accompanied everywhere but in the progression unit there is more freedom such as going along on your own to classes. In the main prison prisoners are accompanied everywhere.
In Mountjoy there are 786 prisoners, 206 are in the progression unit, and 168 in the Dóchas Centre for female prisoners. As a prisoner you are on one of three regimes — basic, standard, or enhanced. You begin on the standard and will revert to basic for bad behaviour, such as an assault.
Progression to enhanced involves being drug free, engaging with the prison services such as the education unit or the addiction services , or if you’ve a tendency towards violence, seeking help with that.
On basic, for instance, you get one six-minute phone call a week to your approved list, on standard it’s a call every day for seven minutes and on enhanced it’s two calls.
“People in the progression unit, want to leave prison in a better position than when they come in. We give them the tools and skills necessary to make the right choices when they leave,” explained progression unit governor Donncha Walsh.
After nearly four decades in the service, he has seen a lot of change, including that within the last 12 months of their sentence a plan is put in place for a prisoner.
“When I joined, people were released with a black bag and went out the gate.
However, unplanned releases are not uncommon, with the lack of space and need to make room for newly sentenced prisoners, and the prisoner service comes up against the same challenges as everyone else in finding accommodation.
About 51% of the prison population can be on enhanced at any one time. Clearly some prisoners are just not interested.
“We don’t have statistics, but the majority that leave the progression unit, if they go to an open centre — Loughlin House, Shelton Abbey — they will tell you that the best prisoners come from the enhanced units, a bit of fine tuning has been done,” said Mr Walsh.
Needless to say, the daily prison routine is set. All meals are taken in cells. Cells are unlocked for “continental breakfast” at 8.15am which prisoners go and collect.
At 9.15am it is time for cell clean out, then it’s on to the yard or gym or to the education unit, or work, if you’re engaged in that.
At 12.15pm, it’s back to your cell for dinner, before being unlocked again at 2.15pm for afternoon activities.
Tea is at 4pm and you’re back in your cell until 5.15pm when you’re again unlocked for recreation.
Final lock up is at 7.30pm.
Tom, who was recently one of a group of prisoners to be awarded an FAI amateur coaching certificate, has plans for when he leaves prison with his business degree.
“I want to start a business. I love learning. It is something I will stick at.
“It is obviously not a great experience being in prison. I ended up in here after some bad decisions. People were hurt by what went on.
“But when I look back on this, it has been a positive experience. It has changed me for the better. I made some bad decisions and that is how I ended up in here.
“You get a lot of time to think, to get an understanding of what led you here, your behaviour. It seems like a different person to me now.”
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