Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Question 130: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his response to the most recent reports of the Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention, Mr. Dermot Kinlen; the action being taken to address the serious shortcomings in conditions identified in the reports; if he has received the report of Mr. Michael Mellet into the death of a person (details supplied) on 1 August 2006; the main findings of the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30829/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I presume the Deputy is referring to the fourth annual report of the Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention and the report of the inspection of Cloverhill Prison, which were published by me in August 2006.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Are they the most recent reports?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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They are the most recent reports.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Then they are the ones to which I refer.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The inspector's reports coincided with a period of profound change in the Prison Service, during which the decades long problem of dependency on excessive prison overtime was finally confronted and overcome. As the Deputy will be aware, a situation had developed in the Prison Service whereby the capital budget and every other budget within the system were being cannibalised to fund overtime expenditure. This reached a peak in 2003, when €60 million was spent on overtime, accounting for approximately 20% of the entire prison budget. In order to reverse this wholly unsustainable dependence on overtime, I put in place a number of measures, including major cutbacks in overtime expenditure and new attendance arrangements. These measures led to cuts, for necessary operational reasons, in services to prisoners in the period covered by the inspector's reports.

Following prolonged negotiations, the POA in August 2005 accepted a proposal to eliminate overtime work and introduce new organisational and working arrangements which will provide long-term savings to the Exchequer of up to €25 million per annum. These new arrangements will not only restore, but also enhance prisoner regimes in the years ahead, particularly in terms of improving access to services, increasing the availability of better facilities and making more productive use of out-of-cell time for prisoners. In this regard, much progress has been made over the past 12 months in improving educational and workshop facilities for prisoners.

In St. Patrick's Institution, the refurbishment of five workshops will lead to FETAC accreditation in metalwork, woodwork, computers, industrial cleaning and other industrial skills. The new workshops will give constructive activity to over 70 inmates and their roll-out is almost complete. The refurbishment of Cloverhill Education Centre has recently been completed. Classes have now commenced and courses are being rolled out on a phased basis. In short, the circumstances adverted to by the inspector arose because the overtime dispute reached a crisis, but huge improvements have since been made.

The fourth annual report of the inspector covers the period from April 2005 to April 2006 and deals with a wide range of issues including staffing levels, the establishment of an inspector of prisons on a statutory footing, prisoners' rights to vote, the privatisation of prisons, recidivism, drug addiction and prisoners with psychiatric illnesses. In respect of shortcomings in conditions, the inspector called in his report for the immediate closure of St. Patrick's Institution. The lack of modern facilities at that institution has been the subject of justified criticism not only by the Inspector of Prisons, but also by other oversight and monitoring bodies.

The Government shares the view that St. Patrick's Institution is no longer suitable as a place of detention for young people and that its complete replacement is required. The institution, together with other detention facilities on the Mountjoy Prison complex, will be closed as soon as planned new facilities are constructed on a greenfield site at Thornton Hall, County Dublin, where separate facilities will be available for 16 and 17 year old boys. The new campus will allow us to develop progressive rehabilitative programmes and enhanced educational facilities and introduce single occupancy cells with in-cell sanitation to end the practice of slopping out.

Additional information not given on the floor of House.

The development of the new prison campus will also provide the Prison Service with room for future expansion and ensure there will be no return to the revolving door of the mid-1990s, when the rainbow Government presided over a situation in which 20% of prisoners were on temporary release. By way of comparison, on 28 September 2006, there were 3,314 persons in the prison system, of whom 156, or 4.7%, were on temporary release. The reason for the significant reduction in the percentage of prisoners on temporary release between 1996 and 2006 is because the Government has provided some 1,100 net additional prison spaces since 1997. In addition, over 400 new places are being created at Shelton Abbey, Loughan House, Castlerea, Portlaoise and Wheatfield Prisons.

The inspector also calls for the elimination of drugs in prisons and the introduction of sniffer dogs in prisons such as Mountjoy. As the Deputy is aware, the elimination of drugs in our prisons is one of my key priorities. In order to achieve this, a drug detection dog was introduced into the prison system earlier this year. The service is based in the Midlands Prison and it is planned that trials will be carried out from that base. The initial phase is being used to test the effectiveness of drug dogs in prisons and to act as a learning exercise for the Prison Service to refine its precise approach in a wider deployment. The pilot has proved extremely successful to date and the dog has detected significant numbers of smuggling attempts. It is intended that the drug detection dog will be used in Mountjoy in the near future.

However, drug detection dogs are just one of a much wider range of measures contained in the new Prison Service drugs policy and strategy, which I launched earlier this year. The new policy and strategy provides, for the first time, a co-ordinated and consistent national approach to dealing with the thorny problem of supply of drugs, as well as ensuring appropriate treatment is available to prisoners to help them conquer their addictions. The policy is currently being rolled out across the prison system. The new replacement Mountjoy and Munster prison complexes will be constructed with an extensive perimeter to prevent drugs being thrown over the wall and will thus facilitate drug-free regimes.

In terms of prisoners with psychiatric illnesses, the inspector expressed concern regarding the treatment of mentally ill prisoners and prisoners with personality disorders and recommended the Department of Health and Children should take responsibility for such prisoners. The Irish Prison Service is committed to health care standards comparable to those obtaining in the wider community. Prisoners have access to medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological services within the prison system and the psychiatric needs of prisoners are served by visiting psychiatrists. The psychiatric service of the eastern coast area health board at the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, which is under the management of the HSE and the Department of Health and Children, provides regular weekly counselling and treatment sessions at Dublin prisons. In other locations, services are provided by local psychiatrists.

Offenders who, in the opinion of the psychiatrist and the prison doctor, are in need of inpatient psychiatric treatment may be transferred by order to either the Central Mental Hospital or a district mental hospital. However, the Central Mental Hospital is the only psychiatric inpatient hospital that will accept prisoners. Due to increased demand on this facility in recent years, it has frequently been the situation that waiting lists build up for admission, requiring priority to be based on clinical need. This situation arises despite the general agreement regarding the necessity for admission and, while awaiting a bed to become available, the prison authorities may be left with no alternative but to seek to manage a disturbed individual in conditions which provide the greatest degree of protection for the individual, other prisoners and staff. My Department and the Prison Service is continually engaged with the Department of Health and Children and the HSE in a process aimed at co-ordinating the provision of health care to prisoners.

I have honoured my commitment to abolish the use of old-style padded cells by introducing newly designed and improved cells. Special observation cells are not used for routine reasons but only in cases where prisoners are in a highly agitated state and at risk of harming themselves or others. No mentally ill prisoner awaiting a move to the Central Mental Hospital is detained in a special cell unless this is unavoidable. Such a practice is not commonplace but takes place only where the safety of prisoners require it.

I have appointed Mr. Mellet to carry out an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of Mr. Gary Douch while in custody in Mountjoy Prison, which will establish what action was taken by the Prison Service, management and staff to safeguard Mr. Douch; to clarify whether Mr. Douch had expressed special concerns about his safety; to establish what procedures were followed and their adequacy; to establish the procedures used to allocate prisoners to the cell in which Mr. Douch died; to establish the level of monitoring during the night of 31 July to 1 August 2006; and to make any observations and recommendations Mr. Mellet sees fit. I intend that the report by Mr. Mellet will be published in due course, with the exception of any parts which could be deemed prejudicial to potential criminal proceedings.

I have not received yet Mr. Mellet's report. He has, however, already made a valuable interim recommendation that, where a prisoner seeks specific protection because of an alleged threat from another prisoner and the prison authorities accept there may be some substance to the allegation, the prisoner should be removed to a single occupancy cell or room for at least 24 hours while the case is assessed. This recommendation has been accepted by me and was implemented immediately by the prison authorities.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I congratulate the Minister on his first occasion to take parliamentary questions in his new office and wish him well for however long he occupies that important position.

Does the Minister accept he made an extraordinary admission when he said the conditions outlined in the Kinlen report were allowed to happen because budgets were being cannibalised to pay for overtime? As Minister, he allowed a situation to arise where, for example, parts of Mountjoy were being sprayed twice a week to keep mice and cockroaches at bay. Overcrowding was such that an individual who asked for protection was brutally murdered after being put in a cell with six other prisoners, including one who had recently arrived from the Central Mental Hospital.

The violence in Mountjoy over the summer, which included two deaths in 12 hours and four stabbings in three weeks, was allowed to take place. Does the Minister think it is acceptable to tell the House that he has resolved an overtime issue and, therefore, the horror stories which had been laid out in graphic and unimaginable terms in the Kinlen report were allowed because budgets were being cannibalised?

Has the Minister received the findings of the independent inquiry by former senior official, Mr. Michael Mellet, into the dreadful murder of Gary Douch and what are the main recommendations contained therein?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I thank Deputy Howlin for his kind words of congratulation. The remainder of my answer to his question, which I was unable to read on the floor of the House, addressed the issues raised by the Deputy. However, as the answer has been put on the record, I will give the Deputy only a summary of its contents.

I agree that the death of Gary Douch was an appalling event and the circumstances in which he died are not defensible. For that reason, I asked Mr. Michael Mellet, who was secretary to the International Monitoring Commission and a former Secretary General in my Department, to compile a full report. He is currently examining a number of issues, while awaiting the pathologist's report and information on the decisions made in the Central Mental Hospital which resulted in the transfer of the apparent assailant to the prison system subsequent to his committal to the hospital. These issues are of the utmost gravity and ones which I regard as requiring a substantial explanation. I will take appropriate action to ensure that such events never recur.

It had been my understanding that holding cells were used to hold prisoners on committal from courts when there was insufficient time to process them. One of the immediate steps taken was to appoint the Midlands, Cork and Wheatfield Prisons as committal prisons in addition to Mountjoy. The purpose of that change was to reduce the pressure on Mountjoy but, as it turns out, a number of people in that holding cell appeared not to have come from the court system and should not have been in those circumstances. In my view, there is no excuse for keeping them in those circumstances. The holding cells in question have been closed and are being converted to other uses. The number of prisoners in Mountjoy has been reduced and two areas which had previously been mothballed, A2 and A3, are being brought back into service.

I was shown a haul of weapons, including some brutal implements, which were recently found in Mountjoy after a search arising from one of the incidents in question. These weapons are regularly catapulted into the exercise yards, with the result that new fencing and other arrangements are being put in place to prevent the smuggling of drugs and weapons. New screening provisions are being introduced for prisoners.

However, the Deputy, the Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention and I are correct in calling for the closure and replacement of Mountjoy. It is an unsuitable prison and is incapable of acting as a place of rehabilitation and detention for sentenced persons. That is why the replacement of the Mountjoy complex is a priority for me and I will go ahead with that project.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I welcome the belated acceptance by the Minister that the conditions in Mountjoy remain appalling. He indicated he has not yet received a copy of Mr. Mellet's report. Presumably, inmates continue to arrive at Mountjoy, including some with mental health difficulties. What particular steps have been taken by the Minister since the murder of Gary Douch with regard to enforcement or renewal of protocols to deal with prisoners who have psychiatric problems, are dangerous or are sick? What has the Minister done since the appalling death of Gary Douch to ensure prisoners are never again put at that type of risk? Is he satisfied that mentally ill people are incarcerated in the normal prison system? What is he doing to ensure that appropriate treatment is given to people who are inappropriately incarcerated at present?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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With regard to mentally ill people, when I was appointed Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform there was a system of using padded cells. These cells were so appalling to even the most casual and inexperienced visitor as to require their immediate replacement. I have got rid of the padded cells and have replaced them with modern state-of-the-art observation cells, where people are held in humane circumstances. They were not being held in humane circumstances in padded cells.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Should they be in prison at all?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Deputy asked what has happened since the death of Gary Douch. Mr. Mellet reported to me on an interim basis within days of his appointment that no prisoner who sought protection should be put in those circumstances. The practice was immediately prohibited within the Prison Service by way of an interim recommendation from Mr. Mellet.

With regard to psychiatrically ill prisoners, what is happening at present is wholly inadequate. The relationship between the Prison Service and the Central Mental Hospital is inadequate and, in some respects, indefensible. The Central Mental Hospital should act as a forensic psychiatric institution to serve people who need hospital treatment for psychiatric conditions and who are committed to the State's custody. It should not be the case, as has occurred in the past, that some people are returned to the Prison Service from Dundrum on the basis that they are too difficult to handle. That is an extraordinary state of affairs.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Is it still the state of affairs?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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It has happened in the relatively recent past. That is not acceptable. If somebody is a danger to himself or others, the Central Mental Hospital must be organised on the basis that it can adequately deal with such a person. It must have sufficient rooms to accommodate all the people who are properly committed by prison doctors to that hospital for treatment, where they can be humanely and decently dealt with.

That is why I am determined to have the Dundrum complex, which is old and out of date, replaced by a modern, forensic psychiatric institution in close proximity to the new prison campus at Thornton. It is not acceptable that psychiatrically ill prisoners are shuttled between two institutions——

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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It is happening today.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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——on the basis of committals and releases which are difficult to defend. The United Nations Committee Against Torture has visited this country and will examine this problem.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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What will the Minister do between now and the building of the prison?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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My Department is in urgent consultation with the Central Mental Hospital about these matters. The director general of the Prison Service will go to the Central Mental Hospital on Thursday to see what the problems are and how they can be overcome.