Governor hopes new prison will succeed where Mountjoy failed

Mountjoy Prison governor John Lonergan argues that unless the new prison is built with a view to proper rehabilitation of prisoners, the problems of the current prison will haunt his successor.

"In terms of the new prison, we must provide prisoners as normal an existence as possible, giving them as much control over their lives as is compatible with security," he says. "At the moment, in the way we are treating inmates, considerable damage is being done. I am convinced by denying these people simple normal things like access to open space, prison damages them immensely. I am basing that on almost 40 years of experience.

"We must be clear about the purpose of prison. The Whitaker Report in 1985 identified the four objectives of prison: deterrence, containment, punishment and rehabilitation, with all four being important. If we are in favour of massive rehabilitation, we need to provide the infrastructure to facilitate that. I would say that the principles of our Dóchas Centre, where we focus on normalisation and eliminating the institutionalisation, must be adopted."

Lonergan also argues that a greater diversification is needed in levels of incarceration."I'd be saying how important it is to have step-down levels of security rather than going for the old conventional prison cell and prison block mentality. A lot of people ending up in prison do not need huge top-security buildings or services. There is absolutely no point in locking people doing three months in a maximum-security cellblock."

If the new prison is to succeed where the old prison has failed in relation to tackling drug abuse by inmates, Lonergan believes that adequate resources must be provided.

"People often say that this place is overrun with drugs. Seventy-five per cent of the Dublin prisoners here come from six of the poorest parts of the city. Many of these enter already addicted to drugs. The problem will first of all have to be dealt with in the areas where these people come from. To put it in context, to eradicate addiction in Mountjoy fully, we would need a service the size of the Mater Hospital. It will be the same in the new prison."

Ideally, Lonergan says, the new prison would have been located in the city centre, as families of inmates would continue to have relatively easy access to it. Moving the site to the outskirts of Dublin will make an already difficult ordeal almost impossible. "For the families, the fact that we are a 10-minute walk from O'Connell Street is a considerable reassurance. The biggest downfall of having the new prison so far out is that it is not easy to get to. Irrespective of cost, the provision of a bus service is vital in sustaining the family visits, which are in many cases the only thing keeping people sane in prison."

The decision to move Mountjoy to north Dublin was made after the option of renovation while keeping it open as a working prison proved too costly. Initial estimates suggested it would have taken at least 10 years to refurbish the prison and at a cost many times that of the new prison.

Lonergan, who won't continue as Governor of the new prison, will not mourn the passing of Mountjoy."The prison was 133 years old when I took over 22 years ago, so it has without question gone well past its sell-by date."