Violence and intimidation likely to ‘infect’ and undermine the regime of new Thornton Hall prison

Violence and intimidation likely to ‘infect’ and undermine the regime of new Thornton Hall prison, says Jesuit Centre

Extent of Prison Violence not taken account of in Prison Design
“The design being adopted for the new multi-million Euro prison to be built at Thornton Hall will not address the growing problem of violence within Irish prisons”, says Fr Tony O’Riordan SJ, Director of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice. He called for the whole project to be re-evaluated.

Speaking on Prisoner Sunday, he suggested that the proposal that male prisoners will be accommodated in two large prisons, each holding between 400 and 500 prisoners, will create the possibility that “threats of violence and intimidation will ‘infect’ and undermine the regime of the new prison thus adding to a host of issues which make the reconsideration of Thornton Hall an urgent necessity”. 

Over recent years, he points out, prison violence has emerged as one of the most serious problems facing the Irish prison system and is one of the most significant reasons why the development at Thornton Hall should be reconsidered. “The culture of prison violence has resulted in large numbers of prisoners being placed ‘on protection’ for 23 hours each day, so that they cannot avail of educational and recreational facilities; as a result the whole experience of imprisonment becomes particularly destructive”, says Fr O’Riordan.

Missed Opportunity
Elaborating on his views on the Thornton Hall proposals in the November 2007 issue of Working Notes, the journal of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, Fr O’Riordan says that the development of a new prison, “especially one located on a spacious site like Thornton Hall”, should be seen as an opportunity to design prison buildings “in a way that would minimise the opportunities for violence within prison”.
 
He suggest that “small units within a prison, which would provide a full range of services in self-contained areas”, could be part of the solution to prison violence. However, it appears that the option of having such small units is not even being considered for the design of the new Thornton Hall prison.

Fr O’Riordan warns that the proposal to accommodate male prisoners in two large buildings, where common facilities, “such as visiting areas, exercise areas and educational facilities” are shared by hundreds of prisoners, will result in a continuation of the violence that now characterises Mountjoy and other large prisons.
The result will be that, just as in the existing prisons, large numbers of prisoners in the new prison will be ‘on protection’. That will mean they will be unable to avail of the rehabilitative services that the authorities claim will be a key feature of proposed new prison complex.

Call for a policy of Prison Reduction rather than Expansion
Fr O’Riordan is also critical of the plan to increase the number of prison places as part of the Thornton Hall proposals, and says that we should instead be looking to reduce the use of imprisonment for less serious offences, by radically developing non-custodial alternatives punishments that would focus on rehabilitation and restitution.

He highlighted figures recently given to the Dáil which gave an overview of the number of prisoners in prison on November 2nd this year. These figures reveal that for every ten prisoners serving a sentence for one of the most serious offences (murder, manslaughter and sexual offences) there are twelve in prison for property crimes without violence. In addition these figures suggested that there were as almost as many serving a sentence for traffic offences as for murder. Commenting in these figures Fr O’Riordan said: “Such figures once again confirm that there are substantial grounds for believing that we should be engaged in a prison reduction plan not a prison expansion splurge.”    

Fr O’Riordan is also critical of other aspects of the proposals regarding Thornton Hall, especially the inclusion of a facility for young people under eighteen on the site.

Real Consultation Process Necessary
He notes that despite the fact that plans for the new prison are well advanced, there is, apparently, soon to be a period of public consultation about the proposed development. “If that consultation is to be anything other than window-dressing, then it must allow for the possibility of serious reconsideration of at least the most alarming aspects of the proposals”, says Fr O’Riordan.

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For further information or for interviews, please contact:

Fr Tony O’Riordan SJ, Director, Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice,
Telephone:  087 928 6945.