WOMEN PRISONERS CROWD OUT MOUNTJOY

Mountjoy Women's Prison is no longer big enough to cope with the number of
prisoners and additional accommodation is now being sought for them,
Justice Minister John O'Donoghue told the Dail yesterday.

The number of female prisoners, particularly those on remand, is rising and
this meant the new prison was no longer big enough to accommodate all of
them, he said.

The location of a new female juvenile prison would also ease pressure on
the facility which was "the most modern female prison in the western world."

The prison was considered a model of its kinds with many studies carried
out by international criminologists and PhD students, he said.

However, he accepted that a drug problem persisted as most of the female
prisoners were severely drug dependent. Every effort was being made to
tackle the problem, he added.