Thornton Hall prison report to go to Cabinet

THE MINISTER for Justice will bring the Thornton Hall prison project report to Cabinet next week.

Alan Shatter says the number of prisoners in the system generally increased by 25 per cent between 2008 and this year, and the report will inform Government thinking in relation to the development of prison spaces.

“The number of prisoners in the system between 2008 and 2011 has increased by 25 per cent from 3,556 to 4,450, which illustrates the pressure that the budget is under,” he said.

He also said the number of prisoners on temporary release had increased from an average of 208 in 2008 to 885 this year.

Mr Shatter established a committee to review the Thornton Hall prison project in April and received its report the weekend before last. He will bring it to Cabinet next Tuesday and expects Cabinet decisions, based on the report’s recommendations, to arise from that meeting.

A 140-acre greenfield site at Kilsallaghan was bought for the proposed 2,200-bed prison by the former government, at the height of the property boom, for almost €30 million.

The members of the committee set up to review the Thornton Hall prison project were former Supreme Court judge and former president of the Law Reform Commission Catherine McGuinness; UCD law lecturer Tom Cooney, who is also the Minister’s adviser; accountant Brendan Murtagh, a partner in LHM Casey McGrath; and Brian Purcell, director general of the Irish Prison Service.

The committee’s terms of reference went beyond commenting on whether a prison should be built on the site. It would inform how the Government proceeded within the financial resources available, Mr Shatter said.

Mr Shatter said the financial realities of the day were keenly felt in the prison service. “It is not an option for the service to put a ‘no vacancy’ sign up on a prison gate. It clearly must accept the prisoners referred to it by the courts.”

Among the report’s recommendations will be reference to the proposed perimeter wall.

“There’s the issue . . . of the construction of the wall around the lands of Thornton Hall and the decision as to whether that will proceed or not will be a decision for Cabinet on Tuesday week, based on the recommendations contained in the report which I look forward to publishing.”

The Minister has previously referred to the amount of money spent on Thornton Hall, particularly on the acquisition of the site, as “scandalous”.

Mr Shatter also told the Dáil justice committee last week he was anxious to see the “unacceptable” practice of prisoners slopping-out addressed as soon as possible. He said 72 per cent of prison accommodation had in-cell sanitation.

“The challenge of eliminating the practice of slopping-out in some of the remaining outdated accommodation, mainly at Mountjoy and Cork prisons, is not to be underestimated and is an issue I will continue to address with the Director of the Prison Service.”