Director of Prison Service rejects criticisms

The director general of the Irish Prison Service has said he "absolutely rejects" the strong criticism levelled at St Patrick's Institution for young offenders by a long-time campaigner for young homeless people today.

Brian Purcell said that based on media reports, the criticisms by Fr Peter McVerry were "out of date at best or at worst, inaccurate".

Fr McVerry told a press conference today that the current system for imprisoning young people was expensive and very poor value for the taxpayer.

He also said the young people detained in St Patrick's had "nothing to do" and that there were only four workshops in operation.

He said St Patrick's in Dublin was a "disaster, an obscenity and it reveals the moral bankruptcy of the policies of the Minister for Justice."

In a statement, Mr Purcell said: "The facts are that the workshops in St Patrick's have been fully refurbished and are now operational. We are now in a position to offer constructive activity to all offenders in St Patrick's. Between workshops, school, gyms etc. Furthermore I absolutely reject the criticism of the Tánaiste and the Prisons Service in relation to the policies we are following."

"We recognise that in St Patrick's we cannot deliver the level of service that we want, we can't deliver a 21st century model of penal excellence in a 19th century environment and that's the reason we are building a new facility in Thornton. 16 and 17 year olds will be accommodated in Thornton on an interim basis until the Youth Justice Agency takes over that role.

"Eighteen to 23 year olds will be accommodated in Wheatfield with its excellent work/training and educational facilities just as recommended in the Jesuit report."

Fr McVerry said today that as a result of their experience in jail, the vast majority of young people leaving detention centres and prisons are likely to reoffend and were often more of a threat to society than before they were imprisoned, he said.

McVerry: Their experience is destructive

He said most young men in St Patrick's "spend 19 hours each day alone in their cells and much of the other 5 hours mindlessly walking up and down a dreary, depressing yard with nothing to do."

Despitea cost of up to €100,000 per year to detain young people between 16 and 24 in institutions like St Patrick's, there were only four work shops in operation, he claimed.

Fr McVerry, who has been visiting prisons for 30 years, said he was "appalled at whatever rehabilitation did exist in the past, which was not an awful lot, has actually been cut back".

"Their experience in prison is destructive, dehumanising and destroys their dignity. They get more alienated and more angry," he said.

"There is no political commitment to rehabilitation in prisons". He said St Patrick's Institution, which is the only detention centre for 16 to 21 year-old males, is "simply a warehouse for containing young people in total absolute boredom and meaninglessness."

"They have nothing to do and are locked in their cells for 19 hours a day. This is at a time of significant development for them, they are left there to rot."

Fr McVerry said that the proposed prison at Thornton Hall must include training, workshops and education facilities for young people if it is to make a difference.

The priest claimed there were a number of wardens in St Patrick's who were verbally, emotionally and physically abusing inmates who should be dismissed immediately.

"This is not a criticism of prison wardens, it is a criticism of a system. Most prison wardens do an excellent job in very difficult conditions. Some prison officers should be immediately dismissed."

Also speaking at the conference was Inspector of Prisons, Judge Dermot Kinlen who said that twenty years after the1985 Whitaker report into prisons.

One of the recommendations in this report was that Judge Kinlen's position should be statutory, although the judge noted this has not yet happened.

He said a business analysis by an independent expert was required into the expenditure in prisons. "All I am asking for is that the waste of money be examined by an external expert," he said.

He added that he awaited with interest the report being compiled by former senior civil servant Michael Mellett who has been appointed by the Minister for Justice to inquire into the murder of Gary Douch in a communal cell in Mountjoy in August.

Judge Kinlen said he intended to investigate the report as soon as it was published.