I would like to welcome the Minister for Justice to the House and to raise the following matter:
The need, especially in the light of recent tragic events, for the Minister for Justice to consider urgently the immediate opening of the facilities at Wheatfield Detention Centre.
As a preface I would like to say that I take this motion in a non-confrontational, non-provocative manner and I am quite sure the Minister will reply in his usual positive way. In what I have to say I intend no criticism of the prison service because I am aware of the very difficult job that prison officers undertake on behalf of society. I would also like to say that, despite the matter I place before the House today, I do not intend to indicate that I regard prisons as an adequate response to social problems. However, within that I think there is clearly a situation that needs to be addressed.
It is a matter of concern to all of us — I am sure, to the Minister as well — that Wheatfield Detention Centre, which was completed 12 months ago, at a cost, I understand, of approximately £39 million has been lying idle. That does seem wasteful of the resources expended on this excellent facility, and I am aware that it is an excellent facility. It is important that it be brought into operation for a number of very specific reasons that have been highlighted, as I said in the motion, by recent tragic cases.
Having said that, I do not wish at all to carpetbag on other people's tragedies, but it is a matter of public record that a young man held in the separation unit of Mountjoy attempted suicide. He was rescued by prison officers but died subsequently. This has helped to focus attention on the question of the circumstances under which HIV positive and AIDS prisoners are held. It is a matter of concern that a facility which could appropriately deal with this situation is not used. I understand that in the Estimates for 1989 there is provision for 150 staff specifically for Wheatfield. However, none of these people has yet been recruited. If immediate action was to be taken to recruit these staff my understanding is that, first of all, that number would mean only a 50 per cent operation of the Wheatfield facility and in any case it would take until September to recruit these officers. Therefore, even if immediate action was to be taken there would be a considerable delay.
If the Minister agrees with me that there is a situation, which I almost hesitate to call an emergency situation but it is getting very close to that — I do not want to be overdramatic about it — then it is clearly time that steps be taken to address this situation immediately. It could, of course, be that Wheatfield Detention Centre could be opened tomorrow if staff from the other prisons, particularly Mountjoy, were redeployed. This is a sensitive area but it is an area which I will take this opportunity to urge the Minister to discuss with representatives of the Prison Officers' Association.
The situation, as I understand it, in Mountjoy at the moment is that there is a total of 28 prisoners in the separation unit. There are 20 more on temporary release and there are also seven or eight prisoners missing from temporary release. Perhaps the Minister would be in a position to place on the record of the House the most up-to-date facts regarding this situation. In the Wheatfield Detention Centre there are 320 individual cells in 20 16-cell units. These are fully serviced with wash-hand basins, toilets, sophisticated alarm systems and no bars which would provide an easy method for prisoners who are distressed to commit suicide by hanging themselves. Each unit can be made totally self-sufficient and isolated.
I make this point not because I think prisoners living with AIDS — I stress this terminology because it is important to be positive and not to say "victims" or "sufferers" but "prisoners living with AIDS"— are a danger to other prisoners, although some of the other prisoners, I understand, perceive them to be so, but because when they are ill they may themselves be at danger from the other prisoners. There are showers at the end of each landing in this facility. There are also multi-purpose units in which male and female prisoners can be accommodated.
I believe that the critical situation that exists in the facilities currently being used in Mountjoy must be addressed in a specific manner. At present, as I understand the situation, AIDS prisoners are being dealt with there as a security matter rather than as a medical or social matter. This is regrettable and it has certain clear implications for the way in which they are confined. The separation unit, for example, was not designed for containing AIDS or HIV positive prisoners. It was designed, as the Minister, I am sure, will confirm, for the treatment of drug abusers and was only subsequently brought in as an emergency measure for AIDS. The separation unit has also become full and has led to an overflow into the basement area. This is a security area where the Littlejohns and other violent or disruptive prisoners were contained.
The security aspect is the one which is highlighted rather than a humane element. There are 15 prisoners sharing four toilets. There are also in the basement single cells. On the main landing there are 50 to 56 prisoners sharing four toilets and some multiple cells. It seems to me that the conditions under which many of these people are held are such as render inoperable the guidelines that are very properly issued to members of the Prison Service. This seems to me to be a situation which needs to be examined very carefully. This feeling that I have is reinforced by what I consider a very important article carried in The Irish Times of Friday, 21 April of this year in which a reporter, Carl Coulter, details claims made by a HIV positive prisoner. I would like to examine some of the areas highlighted in this article.
The first point made is that there is in fact a delay in getting help for a prisoner who may require assistance in a section of Mountjoy Prison used for HIV positive prisoners. The reason adduced for this is a simple one, but one that needs to be remedied, that is, that the keys of the section are kept elsewhere. The Department of Justice have inevitably rejected these allegations and a spokesman for the Department apparently told The Irish Times that he would be surprised if it took longer than five minutes to reach a prisoner even when the cells were locked up for the night. The spokesman also maintained that medical services were quite appropriate. This has been challenged in the letter by the prisoner whose name has been disclosed to The Irish Times. Many of the claims that are made in this correspondence have been the subject of investigation of my own in contact with the Prison Service and my understanding is that the article in its outline and in its detail is an accurate reflection of what the situation is in Mountjoy. Perhaps again the Minister will be in a position to clarify this for us definitively.
It is maintained, for example, that all HIV positive prisoners are kept either in the basement or in the separation unit, including, and I quote, "two padded cells and a strip cell. The temperature in them in very cold and having the virus and being put in them is very frightening because," the correspondent addes "the prisoners were living under articial lighting during the day." This is worrying and I note that the spokesman for the Department of Justice says that the situation is one that is satisfactory to the Department of Justice and, particularly with regard to the medical services available, that independent agencies have vouched for the quality of the medical service.
I would like further information on this. I would also like to ask the Minister if he would agree to a suggestion I make in good faith that a delegation from this House should be allowed to visit the separation unit and the basement of Mountjoy as public representatives so that they may for themselves confirm precisely what the position is with regard to the conditions for prisoners. The prisoner who has made these specific allegations says that HIV prisoners are handcuffed and brought through a barred tunnel to a special Portacabin for visits with their families. He says — I think very appropriately — that it is upsetting for young children to see one of their parents being brought in a handcuffed condition.
With regard to the medical aspects and in particular with regard to health services in Mountjoy at present, the following allegations are made. I believe again that they are made with some degree of substance and the concern, not only of myself but of many other Senators to whom I have spoken, can only be alleviated by provision being made for an all-party delegation to visit the prison and discover for ourselves precisely what the situation is. For example, it is stated that all applications for a doctor have to be made before 8.15 a.m. Administratively, this may be reasonable but on a humane basis, as I am sure the Minister has experienced himself, you cannot time the arrival of illness to coincide with a particular schedule that is convenient to the Prison Service. The prisoner makes the following observation, which I think is perfectly logical, that "this means: do not get ill after 8.15 a.m. "There is no such thing as a medical supervisor for people with HIV. The only time we see the MO is at 9 p.m.
I do not believe that this kind of situation would be tolerable for other citizens of this country, particularly as I do not believe that custodial sentencing is the answer to all our problems. I believe that we should see, as far as possible, that conditions for prisoners are made as tolerable and as civilised as possible.
I also have to say that the response of the spokesman for the Department of Justice is not really acceptable and I would like further investigation of the implications behind this reply. The spokesman says:
I would say the availability of medical services to these prisoners would meet any scrutiny.
He added that the chief medical officer for the Civil Service had taken over the role of medical director of the Prison Service since An Post and An Bord Telecom had been hived off and his workload consequently reduced.
I do not think that, in a situation where we are confronting a major tragedy with a medical dimension this kind of part-time involvement of a senior medical officer is at all appropriate. It is further worrying to discover that there have been two attempts to recruit a medical director to the Prison Service but no suitable applicant has applied. This is worrying, if it is true, and I am sure the Minister can confirm it. Why has there been no suitable applicant? What is being done about acquiring the services of somebody who is qualified to deal with this serious medical problem? The spokesman goes on to say that it is purely a supervisory and administrative position. I find that very difficult to accept.
I have to emphasise that this particular person is writing on behalf of all HIV prisoners in Mountjoy and, with the agreement of those fellow prisoners, has made reference to constant appeals for change to what he has described as "the deplorable conditions" in which they have been forced to serve their sentences since 1986. It seems to me that we must take very seriously this person, who has the personal experience of being confined in these conditions and having the double affliction of being sentenced to a custodial term in prison and also having to cope with the problem of having AIDS.
It is worrying that a spokesman for the Department of Justice can say that while it is true that prisoners have to notify the authorities before 8.15 a.m. if they want to see a doctor, nevertheless a doctor will always be called in an emergency or the prisoner will be taken to hospital. I would like some clarification as to what in fact constitutes an emergency and who decides whether it is an emergency or not. Are those people who make that decision medically qualified? It is not only unfair on the prisoner, it is also unfair on members of the prison staff if they are called to make a judgment outside their own particular professional competence. Perhaps the Minister could address this issue. This difficulty I have, and which I hope I have pointed out, is reinforced when you consider the response of the spokesman of the Department of Justice to the concerns expressed by the writer of this letter when he refers to the conditions with regard to temperature, for example. There are apparently violent alternations of temperature. He says that one of the symptoms of the HIV virus is that the sufferer's temperature control mechanism is affected. I think it is rather interesting to hear that phrase because it is not a medical phrase. It is clearly the phrase of somebody who has an amateur knowledge of medicine. That highlights the danger of people who are not qualified intervening in this area. He says the sufferer's temperature control mechanism is affected. Some could feel very cold while others in the same temperature were too hot. The temperature of the cells on 20 April, the day before the article, was 21 degrees Celsius.
I would like to summarise briefly so that the Minister can reply. It seems clear to me, it seems clear to the prisoners involved and to the members of the professional staff in Mountjoy Prison that the facilities currently available in that prison are antiquated, unsuitable and essentially unfit for the confinement of this particular category of prisoner, if indeed they were ever fit for the confinement of any prisoner. I have to say as an aside that I cannot find it in my heart absolutely to blame the Minister for the conditions in Mountjoy because it was a Victorian prison and you are dealing with a plant that is difficult to upgrade.
It seems to me we have a critical situation in Mountjoy. We have a facility in Wheatfield that is quite excellent. I congratulate the Department of Justice on the provision of this facility. It is not being used. Public money has been spent to the tune of £39 million. It has been lying idle for 12 months. I believe — the Minister might be able to explore this — that there would be some sympathy within the professional organisation representing prison officers to the redeployment of staff to allow the immediate opening of Wheatfield, which I imagine we all want. That, taken in conjunction with the fact that there are no staff in the process of being hired as I understand it at the moment, would indicate to me that there is a clear need for the Minister to take some urgent action that will alleviate conditions for these unfortunate people. I look forward to the Minister's reply.
