Don’t close a prison that helps the young

WITH juvenile crime on the increase it would be a backward step to close the prison on Spike Island.

Such a decision, based on questionable financial calculations, takes no account of the excellent facilities, resources and extensive grounds in the prison, or the long established relationship both with prison officers and local networks that the education and other services have built up over the 18 years this prison has been in existence.

The prison caters for up to 102 young offenders from counties Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Wexford.