UP TO 68 prisoners are expected to be transferred before Christmas to the newly refurbished Curragh Prison, which was inaugurated by the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, yesterday. The first of them will be transferred within a couple of weeks.
The former Military Detention Unit, dating from 1869, has been totally refurbished and extended at a cost of £3.3 million. There are lavatories in all 46 single and 11 double cells. A full range of support facilities for education, training, medical care and recreation have been provided, including a library and gymnasium for prisoners.
The prison also has an advanced surveillance system and control room. There is scope for some further expansion in the future.
The prisoners to be kept in the Curragh will be of the more mature age group and will include sex offenders.
It is expected the transfer of prisoners will reduce pressure for places in Dublin prisons. A number of those to be transferred are under protection at present.
About 60 staff are expected to be attached to the new prison.
Mrs Owen said the prison - the second she has inaugurated in less than a month - was one of the measures the Government was taking to deal with the crime problem.
She said the current building programme would provide at least 733 new prison places on top of the 71 already provided earlier this year.
Mrs Owen admitted that a problem with the foundation of a perimeter fence, damaged in the heavy rain of last week, had delayed the opening of the 25 prisoner Unit A at Castlerea by about a week. But she expected it to be fully operational by Christmas.
. Mrs Owen said she was setting up a small expert group to report on the establishment of the new independent Prisons Agency. As well as officials from the Departments of Finance and Justice and the Attorney General's office, former Judge Mary Kotsonouris and Prof Liam Ryan, professor of sociology at Maynooth College, would serve on the body.