- Mountjoy Prison
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Mountjoy Prison 
Location Phibsboro, Dublin Coordinates 53°21′42.14″N 6°16′2.95″W / 53.3617056°N 6.2674861°W Status Operational Security class Medium Security Capacity 630 Population 632 (as of 2009) Opened 1850 Managed by Irish Prison Service Governor Mr. Edward Whelan Mountjoy Prison (Irish: Príosún Mhuinseo), founded as Mountjoy Gaol, nicknamed The Joy, is a medium security prison located in Phibsboro in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. It has the largest prison population in Ireland.[1]
The current prison governor is Mr. Edward Whelan.
Contents
Physical Accommodation
Mountjoy prison is constructed along a radial design with four main wings (A to D) each of which have three landings which are connected to a central circle. When originally built in 1850 it had 500 cells each of which was designed for single capacity. Many parts of the original building have either been renovated or destroyed.[2]
Main Unit
At the time of the 2009 inspection, there were 371 cells in the main unit of the prison. These are the original cells which were built in 1850 for single occupancy. Their size varies from 3.91m x 2.06m to 3.43m x 2.06m. Additionally there are five cells which can accommodate four people each. None of the 367 cells in this block have in-cell sanitation.[2]
The prison was built with in-cell sanitation but this was removed in 1939 at the instigation of a civil servant who deemed that 'prisoners were using too much water'. Inmates have to slop out using chamber pots.
Medical Unit
The medical unit, otherwise referred to as the drug detoxification unit, is a three storied structure. It provides accommodation for sixty prisoners in forty-eight single person cells and three cells that can accommodate up to four people. All the cells in this unit have in-cell sanitation facilities. It is equipped with medical facilities, classrooms and kitchen facilities. The Inspector of Prisons reported in 2009 that this unit was bright and clean and did not suffer from overcrowding.[2][1]
B Base
The B Base, located in the basement of B wing, contains six single cells and eight four man cells. All of these cells have in-cell sanitation. The unit also contains a shower room, five special cells, and an exercise yard adjoining it.[3] This unit is used for new arrivals and for those seeking protection from other prisoners.[1]
Separation Unit
The separation unit has thirty-five cells. It also has kitchen facilities a shower block and a laundry. Following the unit's refurbishment in 1997, all cells now have in-cell sanitation.[2]
E Wing
A new wing of the prison operating as a separation unit was due to open in 2010.[1]
Overcrowding
In 2009 the Inspector of Prisons calculated that the design capacity of Mountjoy Prison was for 489 prisoners. This calculation excluded cells for assessment, time out and cladding. These types of cells are not suitable for accommdation. Despite this design capacity of the prison the official capacity of the prison was then given as 573. Changes in capacity often relate, according to the inspector, to an increase in the provision of mattresses and beds rather than the addition of new cells to the system. [4]
The Inspector-General of Prisons and Places of Detention has stated that prisoners in Mountjoy are existing in most inhumane, degrading and overcrowded conditions, and that many have to sleep on the floor in filthy conditions due to overcrowding. He recommended that it be closed and demolished. In 2006 the Inspector-General described the attitude of the then Progressive Democrat Minister for Justice Michael McDowell towards reform as "frightening and fascist"[5].
Prison Population
It was estimated in 2009 that 50 per cent of committals in that year, or 2,000 prisoners, were committed due to defaulting on fines. [6]
Violence
Staff Violence
Violence between Prisoners
In August 2006 prisoners who were normally separated from the rest of the population for safety were mixed together for a night with mentally ill inmate Stephen Egan. Prisoner Gary Douche was killed by Egan who was found not guilty of murder due to a lack of responsibility.[7] This prompted the Minister of Justice to seek a limit of 520 inmates on the capacity of the prison.
History
Mountjoy was designed by the British military engineering officer, Captain Joshua Jebb, Royal Engineers and opened in 1850, based on the design of London's Pentonville Prison also designed by Jebb. Originally intended as the first stop for men sentenced to transportation, they would spend a period in separate confinement before being transferred to Spike Island and transported from there to Van Diemen's Land.
A total of 46 prisoners (including one woman, Annie Walsh) were executed within the walls of the prison, prior to the abolition of capital punishment. Executions were done by hanging, after which the bodies of the dead were taken down from the gallows and buried within the prison grounds in unmarked graves. The list of prisoners executed at Mountjoy Prison includes:
- Kevin Barry
- Patrick Moran
- Frank Flood
- Thomas Whelan
- Thomas Traynor
- Patrick Doyle
- Thomas Bryan
- Bernard Ryan
- Edmond Foley
- Patrick Maher.
Annie Walsh from Limerick, who was found guilty of murdering her husband was the only woman to be hanged by the Irish Free State. She was executed in Mountjoy prison on 5 August 1925.
The final execution in the Republic of Ireland, that of Michael Manning, took place in Mountjoy Prison on 20 April 1954.
Some Irish leaders involved with the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War were held there. On May 14, 1921, an IRA team led by Paddy Daly and Emmet Dalton mounted an attempt to rescue Sean McEoin from the prison. They used a captured armoured car to gain access to Mountjoy, but were discovered and had to shoot their way out.
The Fenian poet, author of the popular song "Rising of the Moon", John Keegan 'Leo' Casey was imprisoned here during the 1860s; subsequently in the 20th century playwright and IRA activist Brendan Behan was also gaoled within.
On 31 October 1973, it was the scene of a spectacular escape by helicopter by three Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoners, including Seamus Twomey and J.B O'Hagan.[8]
Mountjoy Campus
The Mountjoy Campus is home to three other separate penal facilities.
- Dóchas Centre
- St. Patrick's Institution
- Training Unit
People associated with Mountjoy
A former governor was Charles Arthur Munro, brother of the Edwardian satirist Saki [9]
Relocation
A 60-hectare site has been acquired for €30 million at Thornton Hall, North County Dublin, where a replacement for Mountjoy is to be constructed. The new facility will accommodate 1,200 prisoners. The site will include court facilities, video-conference links, medical and therapeutic facilities.[10]
Bibliography
Carey, Tim : Mountjoy - The Storey of a Prison :The Collins Press : 2000 : ISBN 1898256896
See also
- Prisons in Ireland
- Loughan House, a low security open centre in Co. Cavan also run by the Irish Prison Service.
- Kilmainham Gaol, a former prison, located in Kilmainham in Dublin, which is now a museum.
References
- ^ a b c d CPT (2011). Report to the Government of Ireland on the Visit to Ireland Carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment from the 25 January to the 5 February 2010. Strasbourg. p. 18. http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/irl/2011-03-inf-eng.pdf.
- ^ a b c d Inspector of Prisons (2009). Report on an Inspection of Mountjoy Prison. p. 8. http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Mountjoy%20Report%202009.pdf/Files/Mountjoy%20Report%202009.pdf.
- ^ Inspector of Prisons (2009). Report on an Inspection of Mountjoy Prison. p. 9. http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Mountjoy%20Report%202009.pdf/Files/Mountjoy%20Report%202009.pdf.
- ^ Inspector of Prisons (2009). Report on an Inspection of Mountjoy Prison. pp. 9–10. http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Mountjoy%20Report%202009.pdf/Files/Mountjoy%20Report%202009.pdf.
- ^ "Fourth Annual Report of the Inspector-General of Prisons and Places of Detention, 2004-05". Department of Justice, Equality & Law Reform. 2006-08-24. http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/4thAnnRpt.pdf/Files/4thAnnRpt.pdf.
- ^ CPT (2011). Report to the Government of Ireland on the Visit to Ireland Carried out by the European Committe for the Prevention of Torture and Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment from the 25 January to the 5 February 2010. Strasbourg. p. 16. http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/irl/2011-03-inf-eng.pdf.
- ^ Witnesses identified in Douche inquiry, Irish Times, April 23rd, 2009
- ^ The Helicopter Prison[dead link]
- ^ Introduction p24 of The Unbearable Saki by Sandie Byrne, Oxford University Press, 2007
- ^ National Infrastructure Summit, May 2006[dead link]
External links
- Mountjoy Prison
- Minister announces site for new Mountjoy complex — from the official Irish Prison Service website
- Inspector-General of Prisons and Places of Detention, 3rd Annual Report - 2005
- Mountjoy Prison Visiting Committee 2004 Annual Report
Coordinates: 53°21′42.3″N 6°16′2.8″W / 53.36175°N 6.267444°W
Categories:- Buildings and structures in Dublin (city)
- Prisons in the Republic of Ireland
- 1850 establishments in Ireland
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