PRISON OFFICERS RAISE CONCERNS AT ‘DEPLORABLE' JAIL CONDITIONS

Conditions in almost all of the closed prisons are deplorable because of the
shortage of cell space.

And in two Dublin prisons inmates daily enact the biblical scene of "take up
your bed and walk" in an effort to find accommodation.

This is the grim scenario in the country's prisons outlined by staff at the
annual conference of the Prison Officers Association in Ennis yesterday.

POA president Frank O'Donnell warned it was no longer acceptable to run the
prison service on the basis of prisoner numbers. "What is needed is a clear,
strategic vision of where the system is going and a willingness to provide
the resources to take it there."

In the absence of proper categorisation, prison officers had grave concerns
about placing unknown prisoners into cell accommodation together and leaving
them open to possible common or sexual assault, as had happened in the past,
he said.

In Mountjoy and St Patrick's Institution, prisoners were forced to carry
their mattresses to whatever type of accommodation was available. All too
often, this was on the floor or in a holding area.

Remand prisoners, conference heard, could only shower and have a change of
clothes once a week and there was no in-cell sanitation in Mountjoy.

Mr O'Donnell added: “Every day we see the conveyor belt of humanity brought
about by the lack of foresight of successive governments which, until now,
failed to make the necessary investment in the development of a modern
prison system.

"Nevertheless, we seem to be witnessing the beginnings of a sea change," he
admitted. "The present administration has undertaken a prison building
programme to increase cell accommodation by 1,000 places."

But the intolerable conditions being endured by staff and prisoners in their
care could only be alleviated when the new prisons provided a reduction in
the prisoner numbers in the overcrowded jails.

Conference was told by Justice Minister John O'Donoghue the first prisoners
will move into the new women's jail at the Mountjoy complex later this
month, while the first batch of remand inmates will be transferred into
Cloverhill from Mountjoy in June.

The current plan was to begin to operate Cloverhill as a committal prison
from October while the first group of prisoners should be shifted into the
Midlands prison in Portlaoise by year end. It would not be fully occupied
until early next year.

* A drug-free ethos in the new Midlands and Cloverhill jails was demanded by
staff. The POA called on the Minister to make the resources available now to
tackle illegal drugs in jails and president Frank O'Donnell wants a new
approach to improve the working environment.