Councillors visit Castlerea Prison and see firsthand the difficulties and challenges

Prison can make those with psychiatric illnesses worse than before they went in, said Cathaoirleach Cllr Justin Warnock at the latest Joint Policing Committee meeting.
Four Leitrim councillors visited Castlerea Prison earlier this month with Cllr Enda McGloin thanking the staff at the prison.
“I'm almost 15 years as a public representative and it was one of the most interesting things I've ever done,” he said, confessing he didn't “have a clue how the prison service worked.”
Cllr Warnock enthused that it was a “well worthwhile visit” and “they were very open and honest with us.”
He continued that there were people in there “that probably shouldn't be in there” such as those with psychiatric illnesses.
“These people are kept closed in for staff safety. They do have the best back-up services there from medical to psychiatric services and instead of very short sentences, especially if they're not dangerous, those people should be on community schemes and not go into jail because it's not appropriate for most of them and it actually makes them worse than when they went in,” he said.
Cllr McGloin continued, saying the councillors received a lot of knowledge of the “difficulties and challenges that the prison service has in relation to criminals.”
He said the focus is on rehabilitation and “short-term sentences, from that point of view, really are not effective.”
He said all of the inmates in the prison carry out duties of some kind e.g. cooking, laundry, etc. and “also, coming up to St Patrick's Day, produce huge amounts of shamrocks that's packaged and sold for charities.”
He continued, “There is a carpentry shop and they make things like children's playground equipment and park benches which are bought by prison officers or members of the public.”
He said it's a “difficult job for the prison officers and psychiatric nurses and all the people involved” saying there people are there for “complex” and “various” reasons.
He added that he felt it was an “extremely well run operation” and “we learned a lot, I felt.”
Cllr Paddy Farrell agreed and said that the councillors came out “with a great knowledge of how the whole system works.”
In response to a query, Cllr McGloin said that the prison is full to capacity. “There is what could be called a housing estate to one side of the main blocks and those prisons would be categorised as less risky, security-wise. I think 478 was the total we were given on the day.”
He went on to say that, on the day the councillors visited the prison, they were told by the governor, “on that particular day, it was the highest number of prisoners in the prison system in Ireland on record in terms of the numbers across all prisons.”