A bishop has expressed concern over overcrowding at Mountjoy Prison following a visit to the facility.
Bishop Martin Hayes said that despite the best of intentions, the prison system is under pressure and “struggling to achieve rehabilitation” of inmates.
He also spoke of concern at what he described as “the ease with which drugs can be delivered into the prison”, sometimes being “literally catapulted into the grounds”, and their effect in hindering rehabilitation efforts.
The cleric visited the Dublin prison last month to support the chaplaincy team, and paid tribute to the work they do.
“It is clear to me that the prison system in Mountjoy Prison is under huge pressure to cope with the demands placed upon it,” he said.
“The key message for me was that, while the population of our country has increased, the capacity of our Irish Prison Service – in terms of the total number of available cells – has not.
“It means that our prisons are becoming overcrowded, resulting in instances of two prisoners occupying one cell, with one prisoner lying on the floor on a thin mattress, as I witnessed myself in Mountjoy.
“Lack of capacity is a priority issue for the management of our prisons which, in turn, is concerned that the appointment of 50 new circuit court judges will result in more committals to prisons.
“While facilities for prisoners have been improved, the specific issue of concern for Mountjoy is the limitation on improvement arising from the design of the Victorian premises itself.”
The bishop said he was told that prison conditions have improved greatly with the installation of hand basins and televisions, but that two prisoners sharing cells is a backwards step.
“The prison system is under real pressure to provide rehabilitation. My conversations revealed that, despite the best efforts of management and education personnel involved, the prison system is unable to rehabilitate prisoners and prepare them for re-entry to the world,” he said.
“While the role of prison is to punish those who commit crime, I feel strongly that we have a responsibility to uphold the human dignity of those held in our prisons.
“It is absolutely in the interest of the common good that we do what we can for prisoners so as to help them return to society as a neighbour who, thereby, can make a positive contribution to our communities.
“If a person sent to prison feels forgotten and abandoned by society, the likelihood is that she or he will return to society angry and liable to return to a life of crime.”
