Reform not possible as long as prison is at centre of Irish penal policy - an Intern's Perspective

26th August 2010

Recent announcements by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern indicate that our prison system is set to expand, as he has given a renewed go ahead for Thornton Hall. While the building will be on a smaller scale in its first phase, it confirms the government’s commitment to prison building as a solution to the ongoing crises within our prison system.

There’s no question that Mountjoy needs to be replaced. This institution first opened its doors in 1850, and over the years it has gained a reputation as being a shockingly Dickensian and dehumanising place. Only recently John Lonergan, the former governor, described it as appalling and as being no more than a warehouse. Consequently, people may have expected that the announcement to forge ahead with Thornton Hall would be warmly welcomed; however this has not been the case. Penal reform campaigners, including the IPRT, have opposed Thornton Hall on a number of grounds.

Firstly, the proposed location is 15km from Dublin city centre. The remote location presents a number of difficulties. Many of the rehabilitation and reintegration services which are provided by voluntary organisations may find it difficult to provide these essential services in such an isolated location. Furthermore, the lack of public transport to the area will seriously inhibit many family members' ability to visit. Secondly, the fact that cells are already planned to be doubled up will create considerable obstacles to rehabilitation and effective prison management. The doubling up of cells illustrates that the government’s commitments to end overcrowding and improve living conditions are secondary to their desire to increase prison capacity. Thirdly, the intended size of Thornton Hall poses a long list of barriers which will encumber rehabilitation. Bigger or super prisons do not compare favourably with smaller custodial centres – larger prisons have higher rates of prisoner suicide, inter-prisoner violence as well as higher recidivism rates. These are facts that simply cannot be brushed aside.

Nevertheless, since 2005, Thornton Hall has been heralded as a panacea to the problems in our penal institutions. Undoubtedly it will be a far superior building – simply having in-cell sanitation will see it out-strip the current inhumane conditions in Mountjoy. The fact that slopping-out has been allowed to continue for so long, despite a long list of reports and international inspections which have severely criticised the practice, is a damning indictment of Irish prison policy. However, the problems in our prison system go far beyond the need for refurbishment and modernisation, including high rates of re-offending, epidemic levels of substance abuse and chronic over-crowding. There’s no doubt that these issues need to be addressed as a matter of urgency, but there is an overwhelming body of evidence that highlights that these difficulties simply cannot be solved by expanding our prison estate.

Moreover, building a prison is not cheap, and given the current economic climate it would seem logical that policy-makers would want to look for alternative solutions that are more financially viable. For instance, community sentences are far cheaper and are considerably more successful at reducing recidivism. In light of this evidence and given the turbulent financial situation over the last 3 years, it is remarkable that prison building and expansion has so far been the only show in town.

The government’s perseverance with Thornton Hall points to a far bigger problem in the underlying attitudes towards penal policy in general. It seems that for policy-makers, prison expansion has become a ubiquitous solution to the problems in our prison system and the unwavering commitment to expansionism exposes that prison is entrenched at the centre of Irish penal policy.

The Irish prison system can be reformed, but to have any long lasting and meaningful results it must be led by evidence-based policy. The government must endeavour to make prison a sanction of last resort, and reducing crime through rehabilitation and reintegration must be the central aspiration of our penal system. Unfortunately such reform just doesn’t seem possible as long as prison building is the default initiative of Irish penal policy.

*This week's blog was prepared by Louise Brangan, our current intern