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.