POA may act over increase in prison places

THE Prison Officers' Association (POA) has accused the Government of "warehousing" prisoners following confirmation of plans to provide 95 new prison places from next week.

The association said yesterday it planned to ballot its 2,500 members next week on industrial action over concerns about staff safety.

The Department of Justice confirmed it was planning to introduce the new spaces on a "temporary" basis.

Forty-eight extra prisoners are to be sent to Wheatfield Prison in west Dublin, 32 to the Curragh, Co Kildare and 15 to Castlerea prison, Co Roscommon.

The Progressive Democrats justice spokeswoman, Ms Liz O'Donnell, called the measure a "half-baked attempt" which she said was a direct result of her Dail question to the Minister for Justice on the release of a woman last week after serving one day of her year's sentence for shoplifting.

The 48 new prisoners for Wheatfield, which has space for 320 inmates, will be accommodated by putting two men into cells designed for one.

One prison source said staff most concerned about the plans for Wheatfield. "Mountjoy is troublesome because of overcrowding. It's going to remain the same and now they're going to make Wheatfield troublesome."

Last week 12 of Wheatfield's 20 units were being used for protected prisoners, consisting of 78 sex offenders and 114 other segregated prisoners. The POA said the single cell set-up in Wheatfield was "necessary for safety, control and rehabilitation reasons".

The Department has already announced plans to turn one of Wheatfield's 16-cell units into a high-security unit for "disruptive prisoners" following the Mountjoy siege last month. The site is also earmarked for a 400-space remand prison next year.

The places in the Curragh will also be created through doubling up of cells. The POA said the 50 long-term sex offenders housed there have "no services available other than an exercise yard and TV room". Adding more prisoners would "amount to a policy of `warehousing' inmates".

Castlerea currently houses 25 low-risk prisoners, many serving the end of their sentences. The prisoners live in rooms in individual houses.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said the measure was a "short-term emergency response" to the crisis in prison spaces.

She said the 40 empty cells in Portlaoise jail would remain empty despite the pressure for space. These cells were earmarked for republican prisoners who may be transferred from British jails.

The Secretary of the Department of Justice, Mr Tim Dalton, told a Dail committee last week that 400 of the 550 temporary release orders were made because of a shortage of prison space.