The Fianna Fail National Women's Forum yesterday claimed the cost of confinement in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin is £122 per prisoner per day. About 6,000 prisoners pass through Mountjoy each year. The forum described the training facilities for prison officers as disrgaceful.
The forum also called for a new, separate women's prison in Mountjoy with its own visiting committee. The present women's section has a capacity of 50 places, leading to frequent overcrowding and making it difficult to separate drug abusers from non drug abusers, Fianna Fail said.