15th October 2010
Update: Evening Herald article 'Mountjoy declared 'safe' as prisoners staged riot', Monday 8th Nov, 2010.
Three prison officers have been hospitalised following a riot involving up to 70 prisoners in Mountjoy Prison yesterday evening. The disturbance saw the inmates barricade themselves into an exercise yard for over two hours. Two separate investigations by the Irish Prison Service and the Gardaí have begun.
Mountjoy Prison is one of the most overcrowded prisons in Ireland, regularly holding 720 prisoners in a 150-year old prison designed to hold 489, and in which the Inspector of Prisons has clearly stated that no more than 600 can be safely held. Despite this, numbers have been constant at over 700 in 2010.
The practice of "slopping out" continues in Mountjoy Prison, and prisoners can be accommodated with up to 4 others in cramped cells that lack sanitary facilities.
Listen here:
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.