Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 18 Oct 1995

Vol. 144 No. 15

Adjournment Matters. - New Women's Prison.

Dr. Henry

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I have visited the women's prison in Mountjoy on and off over the past 15 years and I and many others greeted the news of the building of a new women's prison with great relief. The current prison is dark and noisy. It has poor educational and training facilities and little in the way of room for exercise. The previous prison in the basement was even more disastrous. Anyone who saw the recreation area, an old laundry with prisoners leaning aimlessly against radiators, would have thought they had re-entered Dickensian times. Changed conditions for staff and prisoners were essential.

The news in the summer that the building of the proposed new women's prison was delayed probably dismayed the Minister as much as all those concerned with the reform of the Prison Service in Ireland. I raise this matter on the Adjournment to try to ascertain the Minister's plans with regard to dealing with girls and women sentenced to detention by the courts until the new prison is built.

In general, there are 30 to 35 women in Mountjoy and a handful in Limerick. The vast majority usually are under 25 and many are teenagers. Most are in prison for drug related crimes. Shoplifting has always been the most common offence for which women have been prosecuted and imprisoned. The figures continue to be constant and increasingly often, this type of crime is for the purpose of feeding a drug addiction.

Approximately 180 to 200 women are committed to prison each year but it appears very often that the same women are admitted several times. There are very few serious female criminals in prison in Ireland I am glad to point out and one could query the need for a women's prison of the size planned. As I said earlier, many of the prisoners are teenagers. The Prison Service should have no dealings with those under 18 years of age. Minors need rehabilitation, training and education in a totally different atmosphere and away from adult prisoners.

A juvenile justice Bill has been promised for decades by successive Governments. If the Minister brings it in, it will be the first such Bill in the history of the State because, as the Minister knows, we are still working under the 1908 legislation. Juveniles sentenced to detention should go to a special school but the managers of special schools under this legislation can refuse to take a child. Usually they do this because the school is full but they can also refuse if they feel a girl could be too disruptive. The prisons, however, are not in a position to refuse anyone sent to them, which means that girls of 15, 16 and 17 years of age are sent to Mountjoy. There is also the problem that special schools only take girls who get a two year minimum sentence. At what stage is this juvenile justice Bill and how many of those who enter Mountjoy would not be there if there was such a Bill and sufficient places in special schools were made available to receive them?

It has been said that about 40 per cent of male prisoners have a problem with drug addiction. However, I gather the problem with females is over 90 per cent. If this problem was properly addressed, how many of those drug addicts would need to go to prison? The new prison was to have a drug free unit. I am glad to read of the Minister's plans for such an area in the male prison and for the setting up of a methadone programme, but what is to happen to the women until the new prison is built? Is the status quo in the women's prison to be maintained?

There is currently no open prison or hostel for women prisoners, so they are already more disadvantaged than their male counterparts. Women with babies and young children are not cared for at all. These issues were to be addressed in the new prison but all this has now been greatly delayed.

There were to be knock on benefits for other prisoners and prison staff with the building of the new women's prison. There is an urgent need for more room for occupational and training facilities as well as accommodation in Mountjoy and St. Patrick's Institution; better library facilities, a reading room and gymnasium were planned. Is all this upgrading for the men's prison and St. Patrick's Institution to be greatly delayed as well? Lack of occupational facilities and training means that prison is little more than an incarceration of the person, which is of no benefit to them or society.

While I have not seen the plans for the new women's prison, is it possible that if they were looked at more carefully, a smaller unit could be built? Could such a unit be built for those women prisoners who should be in a special school because of their age, in a drug programme outside prison because of their drug addiction or in a community care programme and could the Minister get funding for this? This might not only enable us to deal more carefully and better with women prisoners but also mean that those facilities which are urgently needed for male prisoners could be advanced more rapidly.

Minister for Justice (Mrs. Owen)

I thank Senator Henry for raising this important issue.

The Government, in reviewing the necessity to control Government spending, agreed on 8 June 1995 to defer beyond 1996 the proposed new women's prison. I stress that the Government's decision on the building of the new female prison in Dublin was to defer, not cancel, the commencement of the project. I readily accept the case which was made for a specially designed place of detention for women. The Mountjoy female Prison, which is D Wing of St. Patrick's Institution, holds up to 40 female prisoners; there are 37 prisoners there today. A wing of the prison in Limerick holds up to ten women prisoners; there are nine prisoners there today.

The deferment of the building of the female prison in Dublin led me to a review of the current situation of the female prisoners there. During the summer I decided that the top floor of the wing where the women are housed, which was occupied by young male offenders from St. Patrick's Institution, should be vacated and the wooden platform which sealed it off from the floors below should be removed. This move has had the effect of greatly increasing the natural light and ventilation in the female prison with consequential benefits to the inmates and staff concerned.

I have asked the prison authorities to review the general arrangements in Mountjoy Female Prison to see whether they can be enhanced in any way in the light of freeing up the top floor of the wing which the women prisoners occupy. I have also asked the prison authorities, in the light of the deferment decision, to examine the medium term options for measures to contribute to the general welfare of female prisoners and the range of options for their rehabilitation.

I reiterate my continuing concern with the situation of female prisoners and my intention to make their conditions in prison as positive as is humanely possible. We should not be under any illusion about the difficulties faced by this particular group of offenders, as the Senator said. Although constituting less than 2 per cent of prisoners within the system at any one time, women inmates have a disproportionate propensity towards heroin addiction and invariably come from tragic family backgrounds. A great many of them have experienced domestic violence in their childhood and adult lives and a lack of stability in most aspects of their lives. There is much co-operation between the prison authorities and the psychological and welfare services within the prison and outside community welfare services with this group, but the difficult lifestyles which many of them are driven towards makes it extremely difficult to achieve significant progress on their behalf, certainly in the case of those who continue to use illegal drugs.

A typical female offender is in her early 20s, has been convicted for shoplifting on many previous occasions, is a lone parent and/or has children in care. They tend to suffer victimisation and deprivation of various kinds and it is a huge task for all concerned to meet their needs in a custodial setting.

An example of the kind of option now available for women prisoners in custody is the use by them of two purpose built studios in the Irish Museum of Modern Art at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham. This project incorporates art and drama and covers a variety of areas such as ceramics, pottery, painting and drawing. Some of those involved contributed to an exhibition of work on behalf of Irish women at the Beijing Women's Conference.

I want to see a stream of such options being developed for women prisoners over the next two or three years as well as the more immediate counselling and welfare supports already in place for them. Recent work done by a regimé committee within the prison service chaired by the Mountjoy Governor in the context of the proposed new prison can be drawn on in this context.

I want to turn briefly to some of the many facilities available for women prisoners in Mountjoy, notwithstanding that I too would like to see an improved and full location for them. Women prisoners there have access to a computer training room, an art room, a photography facility, a domestic science/home economics room and also attend classes on numeracy, literacy and health care as well as general education subjects. Seven individual teachers are involved in working with this group.

Two women doctors, on a shared practice basis, service the female prison. A woman member of the Department's psychology service attends on the female prison. Dr. Maura Woods, a sex abuse counsellor, attends on the women prisoners once per week and they are also attended on by a senior psychiatrist once per week. A probation and welfare officer is permanently assigned to the female prison. Additionally, counsellors from the following services, among others, attend regularly on the female prisoners; Coolmine, Trinity Court and Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous.

My Department has also drawn up draft new prison rules, which were published in June 1995 as an appendix to the policy document The Management of Offenders — A Five Year Plan. The rules provide for modification to the general rules in the case of women prisoners. One of the new rules specifies that subject to the maintenance of safe custody, good order and security and where practicable, special arrangements may be made by which a woman prisoner may have extended visits from her child or children in as unrestricted an environment as possible. These draft new rules have recently been referred to the Attorney General for advice.

With regard to two other issues Senator Henry raised, the juvenile justice Bill is progressing rapidly in my Department under the care of the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Deputy Currie. We have overcome some of the impasses that existed when I took up office and progress is being made. I hope to bring that Bill before the House early in the new year.

Senator Henry also asked if I might be able to get money if I was to modify the existing plans of the new prison. I have carefully looked at the plans. They were drawn up after careful study to incorporate the best and most modern thinking in regard to the treatment of women in prison. Allied to the prison building, which is designed in a bungalow style around a courtyard, other work will have to be done because under the proposed location, some elements of the car parking will not now be available and that is adding to the cost of the project. I assure the Senator that I also want this prison put back on course and before I leave this office I will do my best to do that. I reiterate that the Government did not cancel this project; it deferred it.

Dr. Henry

I thank the Minister for her reply. I knew she would be as concerned as I am about the conditions. My real worry about the women's prison is that we never achieve any goals with the prisoners. It would be something to even decide to ensure that every woman could cook scrambled eggs before she left the building. We should do what we can to help them in their future lives. There will be a meeting of the Irish Penal Reform Trust on 7 November when we hope to discuss the women's prison again. She would be most welcome to attend if she can.