The Inspector of Prisons has heavily criticised conditions in St Patrick's Institution for juvenil
The Inspector of Prisons has heavily criticised conditions in St Patrick's Institution for juvenile offenders. Emma Browne reports
St Patrick's Institution, a detention centre for young men, "is completely inadequate to provide rehabilitation for the juveniles" it houses, according to the Inspector of Prisons, Dermot Kinlen, whose 2004-2005 report on St Patrick's has just been published.
Dermot Kinlen also said that the closure during 2003 of the workshops for inmates, as a means of saving funds, "appears to be inexplicable and inexcusable"; that a €10-11 million wing built to house juveniles instead houses staff and is underutilised; and that there is a major problem with bullying and violence in the institution.
Solicitors whose clients are inmates of St Patrick's told the Inspector, "it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed in the Institution" and described the Institution as at a "crisis point".
The report says there are inadequate activities to occupy the inmates, leaving them idle, and often in their cells, for 14 to 17 hours a day. There are 80 to 100 inmates in the yard with nothing to do on a daily basis. In 2003, the workshops were closed due to budgetary constraints. This now means that the only work available to inmates is cleaning, reception work, and work in the kitchen and library. In the new year, they hope to open new workshops.
As a result of a joyriding incident in Stillorgan which killed two gardai, a decision was taken to build a wing in the Institution to house 14 to 15-year-old boys. However extra capacity and facilities for this age group became available in Trinity House, Lusk, Co Dublin and it was then decided that the St Patrick's facility would no longer be required. The unit, which is fitted out with individual cells and a gym is now being used to house staff.
In the future it will be used to accommodate 16 to 17-year-old boys. However they are unable to proceed with this at present as there is a dispute with the Prison Officers Association (POA).
The chaplain of St Patrick's, the branch representatives of the POA, the solicitors of inmantes and the Inspector all raised concerns about the issue of bullying and violence between inmates and inmates, and between inmates and staff.
The branch representatives of the POA said that approximately eight staff had been injured from assaults in the last two months. In the previous 12 months (to inspection), 17 inmates were on disciplinary report for assault on staff, while 198 were reported for assault of fellow inmates.
St Patrick's Institution caters for young men between the ages of 16 and 21 years old. The total cell capacity of the institution is 217. In the last three years, boys between eight and 16 years old have been housed there as well, under the order of the courts. The inmates usually come from disadvantaged backgrounds and have had little education. Fifty per cent of the inmates are illiterate and 20 per cent could only sign their name.
In recent years all the cells have been fitted with in-cell sanitation facilities and television. When the Mountjoy complex is rebuilt, St Patrick's will be moved to within the larger Mountjoy complex.
Dermot Kinlen concluded in the report that the institution is "long past its sell by date and the sooner it is closed and replaced with a modern building the better".
The Report of the Inspection of St Patrick's Institution by the Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention, 2004-2005, is available at www.justice.ie