After being given a life sentence at the Criminal Courts of Justice, Graham Dwyer was taken by van to Mountjoy Prison in Dublin's north inner city. After arrival he was put in a holding cell, with others sentenced yesterday for a range of offences, before being processed into the system.
Despite the fact that he has been in jail since his arrest more than 18 months ago, Dwyer has been a remand prisoner – refused bail and awaiting trial – in Cloverhill Prison in west Dublin. It is a special facility for those on remand or for foreign nationals awaiting deportation. Now that his sentence has been imposed, he begins a new life in the prison system as a sentenced inmate and is processed again, this time as a lifer.
Prisoners have their photographs, fingerprints and measurements taken, and any marks on their bodies are noted. In Dwyer’s case, his Celtic-cross tattoo would be recorded.
In his committal interview, he would give details about himself, including any addictions or medical needs. He would also supply details of people he wants permission to phone from prison and those he wishes to visit him.
After being officially committed into the prison system in the “reception area”, all prisoners are then transferred to the basement area of Mountjoy, known as the B Base, where they spend their first 24 hours in custody.
The area has been recently refurbished in works that have seen conditions in Mountjoy transformed. It is intended as the least intimidating setting for an introduction to prison life before the harsh reality of the regime proper is faced.
Inmates are monitored closely because in the first hours after committal, especially for a long sentence, prisoners are regarded as being at highest risk of self-harm or suicide. All prisoners meet the governor while in the B Base, as well as medics.
The majority of prisoners committed are drug users or recovering users, and meetings with medical staff will determine whether they are given heroin-replacement drugs. Dwyer’s cell in the B Base has in-cell sanitation, a TV and kettle. Once he is unlocked, just after 8am, he will collect breakfast and bring it back to his cell, where he will be locked in alone while he eats. After that, a decision will be made on where he goes to begin his sentence.
Informed sources say the Midlands Prison is Dwyer’s most likely destination. In Portlaoise and on the same campus as the maximum-security Portlaoise Prison for terrorists and serious gangland offenders, it is one of Ireland’s most modern prisons. It also houses a number of killers who, while not convicted of any sex offences, had a sexual dimension to their crimes.
Arbour Hill, in Dublin’s north inner city, houses mainly sex offenders, but it also holds murderers, some of whom have a sexual component to their crimes. Prison sources said that because the Midlands Prison is closer to Dwyer’s family in Cork, he will most likely be sent there to make it easier for his family to visit.
The regimes in all prisons are broadly similar. After collecting breakfast, prisoners are locked in until 9.30am, when they are let out for recreation, work or education. They return to their cells at noon to eat and stay there until 2.15pm.
Recreation or training follows until 4pm when they collect tea and are locked in cells until 5.30pm. Then there is recreation until 7.30pm when they are locked into cells with TV or reading to occupy them.
The vast majority of cells are single occupancy. Dwyer’s standard of education, coupled with the fact that he is not addicted to drugs, mean he will probably quickly become a trustee prisoner. This will involve being trusted with certain jobs, including working in the kitchens and being left to do tasks without close supervision by staff. He is already regarded as a well-behaved prisoner who poses no security risk.
As well as securing better jobs, Dwyer, if he secures the status of trustee prisoner, will also receive longer visits and phone calls and higher payments for the tuck shop. The incentives are offered to foster a calm prison regime with the least dissent and violence possible.
