Legal experts warn Mountjoy is a disaster waiting to happen
Tuesday July 15 2008
THE riot at Mountjoy Prison was a "disaster waiting to happen" and it was a miracle that prison officers managed to contain the incident, legal experts have warned.
The damning warning over conditions in Irish jails comes as the Government defends its human rights record before a key United Nations committee.
Days after prisoners rioted at Dublin's Mountjoy because of overcrowding and inter-prisoner violence, a Shadow Report, compiled by three of Ireland's leading civil liberties groups, criticised the Government over its claims that overcrowding has been "largely eliminated".
Yesterday, Attorney-General Paul Gallagher and a panel of senior civil servants appeared before a UN Human Rights Committee.
Mr Gallagher addressed the committee for two and a half hours and was questioned on a range of issues, including the failure of the legal system to adequately prosecute sex crimes, immigration laws, the role of women in the Irish Constitution and conditions in prisons.
The Attorney-General was at pains to point out that much of Ireland's prison problems would be alleviated by the construction of Thornton Hall, due for completion on 2011. But the UN committee queried the Government's lack of alternatives and its prison expansion policy.
Sir Nigel Rodley KBE, a leading international human rights lawyer, said Ireland couldn't "build yourselves out of the prison problem".
Grilled
It is the third time Ireland has been publicly grilled by the international human rights committee -- an event which takes places once every five years -- and the committee may extend time today to submit more questions about Irish prisons.
The UN committee is considering a range of issues highlighted in the Shadow Report, compiled by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Free Legal Advice Centres and the Irish Penal Reform Trust, including Ireland's lack of abortion laws, imprisonment for civil debt, extraordinary rendition, and the State's planned civil partnership laws.
"What we saw at the weekend at Mountjoy was not unexpected," said law lecturer Ursula Kilkelly, chairperson of the Irish Penal Reform Trust and one of the Shadow Report's authors.
"It was terrible, but at the minor end of the scale compared to what could have happened. Mountjoy is a disaster waiting to happen and it is a miracle that prison officers have managed to contain a major incident so far. It is impossible to run a prison in these conditions and overcrowding is the single biggest issue that frustrates all other efforts."
The report, which will "shadow" the Government's own observations, was launched by Mr Justice Michael Kirby, one of Australia's most senior judges and civil rights campaigners.
The Shadow Report, which has been formally presented to the UN committee, has questioned the civil partnership scheme, and claims the State has not indicated its plans on tax, social welfare and children.
The alliance also said that planned civil partnership laws, which may cost taxpayers some €25m a year to implement because of changes required to Ireland's tax and social welfare schemes, should not be stymied because of cost considerations.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael and Labour have urged action on the report.
Condemned
Labour TD Michael D Higgins said it was interesting that slopping out -- condemned as an abuse of prisoner human rights -- was the last thing to be eliminated in every reformed prison system in Europe.
"It is kept because it is a significant degrading ritual, and for that reason only," he said.
And Fine Gael Human Rights spokesman Pat Breen said the report contained similar criticisms to those made by the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg.
"I welcome the report and I am calling for a Dail debate in September on its recommendations," he said.
- Dearbhail McDonald Legal Editor
