An official report on the State's main prisoner rehabilitation training unit, currently located on the grounds of Mountjoy Prison, has advised against moving the facility to a new site in north Co Dublin.
In a report published yesterday, the inspector of prisons and places of detention, Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen, said prisoners attending the training unit would face difficulties commuting to employment and education aimed at preparing them for release if they were moved to Thornton Hall.
The training unit, a semi-open prison accommodating 96, was said by the inspector to be "a good example of what rehabilitation is all about". However, he warned: "A third of the population leave on daily temporary release and can get buses, trains, walk etc to their place of work, courses etc. But if located in north Dublin, no such public transport would be available."
An Irish Prisons Service spokesman said last night it intended to move the training unit to Thornton Hill. However, prisoners attending training or employment in the city may be accommodated elsewhere.
A second report from the inspector, also published yesterday by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, described conditions at Cork Prison as "unacceptable".
Mr Justice Kinlen said Cork was the most overcrowded prison in the system, adding that "slopping out" continued in all wings except one.
The report also cited an "undercurrent of industrial relations problems" not confined to Cork Prison. Neither fire evacuation drills nor fire safety courses had taken place in Cork. "This is alarming and needs attention."
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