asked the Minister for Justice whether, in order to allay grave public anxiety and distress, he will give an assurance that reports of inhuman conditions under which prisoners convicted of civil offences in Portlaoise prison are said to be held, are not correct.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Portlaoise Prison Conditions.
45.
I do not accept that there is any public disquiet on this matter but I can give the assurance sought. I have considerable doubts about the desirability of saying any more than that since to do so is to add to the publicity which a small number of prisoners are trying to secure as part of a deliberate attempt to disrupt prison administration. However, since the matter has now been raised in the House. I have a long detailed statement prepared and I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to have it circulated in the Official Report.
On 23rd November I made a statement to the House about demonstrations in Portlaoise prison on 13th and 14th November and I stated that the visiting committee had imposed dietary punishment and loss of remission and privileges on 90 prisoners. I would mention in this connection that organised demonstrations such as occurred on these occasions, however, euphemistically described as peaceful protests, would be unacceptable at any time from persons sentenced to prison and subject to prison discipline. In present circumstances, however, with the prisons full and with more than the normal proportion of the prisoners on the look-out for any opportunity to encourage or provoke a riot, such a demonstration presents a direct threat to prison security and has to be dealt with on that basis.
Accordingly, if the use of force is necessary to put an end to such demonstrations, this is not only justified but, in the circumstances, essential. Furthermore, disciplinary action against the offenders has to be such as will act as a deterrent against a repetition. In this instance, the prisoners who were prominent in the demonstrations appear to have been taken aback by the disciplinary punishments imposed by the independent visiting committee and some of them have since been engaged in a many-faceted campaign to evade these punishments. In particular, a concerted effort has been made by a number of prisoners to engage in publicity-seeking allegations, partly in the hope that this would lead to a reduction in the punishment imposed.
Allegations about mass hunger strikes have been made. They are without foundation. There may have been some short-term hunger strikes by small groups of prisoners at various times since the demonstrations took place—it is difficult to be sure as prisoners claiming to be on hunger strike have access to food—and the prison authorities are satisfied that a deliberate effort has been made to use these short-term strikes or alleged strikes as a means of leading the communications media to think that there is a general, continuing hunger strike.
Specific allegations have been made about a named prisoner who is supposed to be getting no medical attention. The fact is that he is seen by the doctor every day. The House may judge for itself the validity of a claim that prisoners are ill-treated and victimised when a named identifiable prisoner is prepared to arrange to have a letter of his smuggled out for publication, in the full knowledge that his allegations are not only false but can be proved to be false.
Other allegations concern alleged beatings. Originally, the allegation was that six prisoners were beaten, one of them particularly badly. This allegation later seems to have been reduced to one case where the prisoner was alleged to have been dragged to his cell.
I am informed that the prisoner was, in fact, dragged to his cell, that he was, as he acknowledged himself to be, one of the ring-leaders and that nothing other than force would suffice. This man is, in fact, a member of a gang, he has a long record of violent crime and is at present only at the beginning of a long sentence for robbery with aggravation, a legal phrase which in this case describes the fact that he and others with him carried out the robbery armed with pick-axe handles and dockers' hooks.
The House is aware that Portlaoise prison is now full to capacity. This puts a strain on all services including sanitation. Unfortunately, the position is deliberately exploited and worsened by prisoners who block lavatories by actions such as putting whole newspapers into them, in the hope that in this way they can disrupt the prison. Work is already in progress to provide additional and better services of this kind but it will take some months to complete.
Meanwhile, I want to say emphatically that the lurid allegations to which so much publicity has been given, about chamber pots having to be washed in the same basins or under the same taps as utensils used for food, and that officers or prisoners distributing food may also clean toilets without having any proper washing facilities, and so on, are untrue. For instance, in relation to the serious allegation about food distribution, the fact is that there is a special washroom adjoining the kitchen for the use of the persons connected with the preparation and distribution of food. As it happens, both this washroom and the kitchen itself are new, being in use for only about a year, and are fully equipped to modern standards.
In conclusion, I should like to take this opportunity to make a protest at the manner in which publicity has been given to outrageous allegations, especially those against prison officers, allegations unsupported by anything other than the statements of people who have and are publicly known to have serious criminal records.
These prison officers, in their daily work, have to put up with calculated provocation of a kind that requires the most rigid self-discipline to withstand. It would be unreal to think that there cannot, occasionally, be some lapses but I am glad to say that the discipline of the officers has been such as to frustrate the efforts of certain prisoners to provoke them and has forced these prisoners to fall back on other complaints.
For instance, the recent demonstratitons were—according to the publicity —supposed to have been in support of specific grievances the prisoners had placed before the governor. The fact is that no such grievances, real or imaginary, had been placed before him. The demonstrations having been designed for quite a different purpose. In my opinion, the manner in which prison officers both in Portlaoise and in other prisons have consistently behaved, in the face of great difficulty and deliberate provocation, is a credit to them, and I am glad to have this opportunity to say so.
Having made this statement on this occasion, I do not consider that it is either necessary or appropriate to engage in a policy of issuing public denials just because allegations of this kind are made. There is a visiting committee for each prison, one of whose main functions is to examine and deal with complaints by prisoners.
I wish to ask the Minister if the fact that 90 people were put into solitary confinement and put on this No. 1 diet, which is two pints of water, a half pound of potatoes and two slices of dry bread, is not a prima facie case for having a public independent inquiry into the reasons for this brutally inhuman treatment of human beings in prison, against people who are unable to do anything about it themselves?
I have dealt with the whole matter at great length in the statement which the Ceann Comhairle has allowed me to circulate. I think the best thing to do is to leave it at that.
Is it not a fact that these people, or some of them, are undergoing this very distressing experience and that, therefore, there is a sense of urgency about it? The Minister knows I put this question down last week and he did not deal with it then. Would the Minister give us an assurance that this kind of inhuman treatment in response to a perfectly reasonable request in respect of educational facilities will be discontinued? There appears to be no justification whatever for doing this to people who are already deprived of their freedom.
These punishments were imposed by the visiting committee who are perfectly independent in their functions and who have full power to impose these punishments. The Deputy is very naïve of he thinks that these punishments were imposed simply because some people looked for educational facilities or something of the like. As I have explained at length in this statement, there is an organised effort by certain people completely to disrupt our prison administration and I think the governor and staff and the visiting committee would be failing in their duty if they did not do everything possible to stop them.
I wish to ask the Minister if the people who wrecked Mountjoy were subjected to this kind of punishment?
I hope that after they have been convicted in the courts they will be subjected to considerably more severe punishment.
But they have not been so subjected.
On a point of order, will the Ceann Comhairle enlighten me as to whether a precedent has been established here? The Minister has said he has a long statement which, I assume, is not a statistical one. It is to be put on the records of the House. Is this a procedure which has been a practice and will it be a practice in future?
I think the idea is a very good one because it gives other Deputies a chance to put questions.
I asked whether it is a precedent.
I am informed that it has happened on other occasions.
On a previous occasion we asked that the Minister be allowed to do this in an effort to prevent a long delay in the House and we were refused. Is there a special reason why this particular——
If the Deputy is objecting, I shall read it out. It consists of three and a half foolscap pages——
I am not objecting to it at all.
——and I am sure it will take me at least ten minutes. It will hold up the House.
I think it should be read out.
Would the Minister agree that the conditions in these prisons are far better than what some of our gardaí have to put up with in stations throughout the country?
I would not agree but on the other hand I agree that the conditions in the prisons can be better than those that some of the prisoners have come from outside.
Whose fault is that? You should be ashamed of yourselves —in Government here for 30 years and you have to admit that.
We have central heating in every one of our prisons.
(Interruptions.)
——in solitary confinement on No. 1 diet. A dreadful admission for the Government to make after 50 years.
Will you please contain yourself? I have asked the Minister have we these conditions in the Garda stations?
That is a separate question.
Would the Minister agree that these are non-political prisoners? Has the Minister himself visited Portlaoise to ascertain the conditions there?
I do not categorise prisoners as political or otherwise. I have visited Portlaoise Prison on several occasions.
And so have I.
Has the Minister had a report on these conditions and on what exactly happened?
All this is dealt with in the statement.
Yes, but this leaves us without the opportunity of questioning the Minister further on some of the statements in it.
I have already offered to read it out but it would take me approximately ten minutes.
They are better off in their homes than they are in solitary in Portlaoise——
(Interruptions.)