Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 30 May 1995

Vol. 453 No. 6

Adjournment Debate. - Prison Visiting Committee Report.

Mr. E. Byrne

I thank the Chair for allowing me raise this matter. The findings of the Mountjoy visiting committee's report 1994 should not surprise us. All visiting committees have said much the same for some years. We owe them and other committees a debt of gratitude for highlighting the often appalling conditions in prisons.

The committee addressed two major issues, the drugs problem and the physical conditions obtaining in Mountjoy. It is estimated that up to one-fifth of Mountjoy's daily prison population are hardened drug addicts and have regular and unrestrained access to hard drugs in the prison. Unfortunately that confirms what many of us have long suspected. What is most disturbing is the report's conclusion that a complete absence of drugs could make Mountjoy unmanageable. The report states:

It is about time the notion was dismissed that prisoners resort to drugs for fun trips. Many need them to keep at bay the sinking, agonising despair in which they find themselves in Mountjoy.

They also need drugs to feed their habit.

The visiting committee does not recommend drugs as a palliative but recognises the hard and unpalatable reality of life in prison. In the face of that, the committee came to the inescapable conclusion that methadone maintenance programmes should be provided for incarcerated drug addicts similar to those operating in the outside community. During a recent Adjournment debate I raised the need for a comprehensive methadone maintenance programme in prisons. The Minister pointed out that a number of staff and infrastructural support arrangements would have to be put in place and stated that it was not envisaged that methadone maintenance would be provided for all prisoners who are drug addicts. They would have to be on a programme in the community.

I question the wisdom of this approach. I recognise the constraints under which the Minister is working and the seriousness with which she views the problem. However, I am baffled by the approach. Prisoners are being told that if they do not deal with their problem in the community they will not receive help in prison.

Hundreds of addicts are attempting to deal with their problem and there are huge waiting lists for programmes in the community. Prisons should be places of treatment as well as containment. While I recognise the concern that, if given access to methadone programmes, prisoners may simply substitute one drug for another, under controlled circumstances the risk of such substitution is relatively minor. I hope the Minister will take on board the visiting committee's recommendations.

The fundamental issue is not how do we deal with the drugs problem but why it arose. Drugs are not an inevitable accompaniment to prison life. Although 70 per cent of those incarcerated in Limerick Prison were convicted of drug related offences, the drugs problem in that prison is negligible. Several prisoners in Mountjoy sought a transfer to Limerick Prison in order to escape the drug culture which prevails in Mountjoy. The root cause of the drugs problem in Mountjoy can be found in the sinking, agonising despair which many prisoners experience in the ironically nicknamed "the Joy". Much of that despair is caused by the appalling conditions in which the prisoners are contained. There is inadequate medical attention, scanty sanitary facilities, overcrowding and lack of proper employment, in short, conditions that are Dickensian.

The 1994 Mountjoy Visiting Committee once again highlighted the appalling conditions in Mountjoy Prison. In the past these reports made headlines for a week before they were left to gather dust on shelves in the Minister's office. On this occasion, I have every confidence the Minister will take action.

There is an urgent need to place prisons within a modern statutory framework. There should be legally enforceable minimum prison conditions and prison rules and codes of conduct must be on a statutory basis. Prisons must be removed from the sole authority of the Minister and placed under an independent prison board mandated to monitor the implementation of relevant legislation and to which prisoners could have swift and unbureaucratic recourse in the case of complaints.

The visiting committee has done its job extremely well and the ball is now firmly in the Minister's court. I urge her to address prison reform and to introduce the necessary legislation as a matter of urgency. I know her response will be well considered, humane and practical.

Mrs. Owen

I support the points made by Deputy Byrne about the Mountjoy Visiting Committee and the other visiting committee which do much valuable work in prisons. This is not always the easiest of tasks and it is only right and proper that we thank the Mountjoy Visiting Committee for its report and the other committees.

I received the 1994 report on 23 May. It is perhaps the longest report furnished by a visiting committee. I am considering its contents and will consult in the matter with my officials, the governor of the prison and the visiting committee.

The committee states that there are up to 130 hardened drug users in the prison at any one time and its has its own in-house supply network. It also calls for an improvement in treatment facilities for addicts, including the introduction of methadone maintenance programmes. I have already acknowledged that there is a significant drug problem in some of our prisons, particularly Mountjoy, and I would not dispute the committee's estimate that there are approximately 130 addicts or approximately 20 per cent of the daily average population in the prison.

One of the reasons there is not the same movement of drugs in Limerick is that there is a huge movement of prisoners in and out of Mountjoy Prison every day and week. These prisoners may be on remand, going to court, on temporary release, going to hospital or getting treatment. There are, therefore, enormous opportunities open to prisoners to bring drugs in and out of the prison. However, I am not aware of any evidence of a supply network in the prison, as alleged by the visiting committee, and I hope that any hard information it has to this effect will be made available immediately to the prison authorities. The report did not make clear how it came on this information.

On the question of methadone maintenance for prisoners. I can confirm that I intend to introduce facilities to provide continuance on methadone maintenance for offenders who come into prison while already conforming to all the disciplines required of them on a maintenance programme. This is the point at which we will introduce methadone treatment for the people already on it. The Deputy's suggestions on how to improve the availability of methadone treatment to other prisoners are very valid. Two new options are now under active consideration for the management of drug dependent offenders in Mountjoy Prison. These are the creation of a detoxification facility in the medical care unit in the prison which will help prisoners to come off drugs completely and ensure they do not become dependent on methadone, and the establishment of a high security drug free unit where prisoners who are either drug free when they enter prison or who become drug free and want to remain so will be incarcerated. A wide range of new security measures have recently been approved by me to prevent as far as possible the smuggling of drugs to prisoners. This includes a new search room where prisoners are searched properly after visits for their own safety. At present, such searches take place in the corridor and I want to ensure that there is a facility where prisoners can be searched and drugs taken from them.

Chapter 8 of the visiting committee's report deals with overcrowding in Mountjoy and alleges that previous submissions on this topic have been ignored. This is not true as those familiar with the five year plan for the management of offenders will know. Over 200 new prison spaces will be created over the next two years with the building of the new female prison and the new male adult prison at Castlerea. It is also intended to reduce the pressure on Mountjoy and other institutions by a carefully planned programme of positive sentence management allied to an increased reliance on community sanctions and measures. In addition, the feasibility of a separate remand facility is being examined at present by a joint Department/Governor Working Group. The steady increase in committals in recent years, which was highlighted by the committee, is acknowledged. It reflects the level of crime in the community and the action of the courts in imposing custodial sentences on offenders and of the Garda in catching the offenders.

Places for 150 adult male offenders will be provided at Castlerea. County Roscommon. Construction of the prison perimeter wall and associated works is under way and the main construction of the complex is planned to commence later this year. Accommodation for up to 60 female offenders will be provided in a new purpose designed stand-alone facility to be located on a Department of Justice site at Cowley Place beside Mountjoy Prison. Planning for this new prison, which is being overseen by an expert steering group comprised of prison management, departmental officials, Office of Public Works architects and representatives of women's interest groups is well advanced, and construction works are due to commence later this year. All of these measures will help to alleviate the pressure on accommodation in Mountjoy Prison and I hope they will lead to an acknowledgment in next year's report that some action has been taken on overcrowding.

Other issues raised by the committee include the lack of work and training facilities for prisoners. The five year plan provides for an expansion in the number and quality of such services over the next few years. I recently visited the prison to see the facilities and I hope to be in a position to open more of them. The committee also expressed concern about the physical infrastructure of the prison, with particular reference to sanitation and hygiene. I am committed to the continuation of the already well advanced programme of refurbishment which will include in-cell sanitation in all cells. The committee has acknowledged some of the more recent improvements at the prison, including the new kitchen, auditorium and modern bakery. I will send Deputy Byrne an invitation to the opening of these facilities so that he can see them at first hand. Mountjoy Prison is more than 100 years old and its physical limitations cannot be put right overnight. Much positive work has been done there in recent years and much more is in the pipeline.

Many of the other points raised in the report will require careful consideration and expert professional advice will be needed in regard to medical services, etc. The visiting committee has been somewhat vague in its criticisms of the medical facilities and my Department will endeavour to clarify its concerns in this respect.

As in the case of the annual reports of all visiting committees, the contents of the Mountjoy committee's report will be given careful consideration and action will be taken where I deem it necessary, appropriate and feasible.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.20 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 31 May 1995.