THE PRISON Officers’ Association (POA) is seeking a meeting with officials from the Irish Prison Service to discuss security at Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, following violent scenes in the jail at the weekend.
Prison officers were forced to withdraw from a recreational area in the jail on Saturday afternoon when between 70 and 80 inmates barricaded themselves inside.
Efforts to end the stand-off through negotiation failed and order was restored only when officers wearing riot gear were sent in to regain control of the situation.
Five officers and two inmates were hospitalised after the incident in the recreation area of the prison’s D wing.
One of the officers suffered serious injury, losing several teeth and hurting his nose when hit in the face with a fire extinguisher.
The POA said it believes the unrest happened because Mountjoy is overcrowded.
However, the Irish Prison Service said the disturbance resulted from dissatisfaction with a new regime of visitor searches which have resulted in a greatly reduced flow of contraband, including drugs, reaching inmates.
A spokesman for the prison service said prison staff should be thanked for the “very professional” manner in which they handled the situation. While overcrowding was an issue at Mountjoy and in other jails, it was being dealt with by capital investment projects.
There are almost 600 inmates in Mountjoy, which has a bed capacity of 420.
POA general secretary John Clinton said the reduction in contraband may have contributed to tensions but he believed overcrowding was the primary cause.
His association had repeatedly warned prison service management that scenes such as those seen on Saturday were likely because of the jail’s cramped conditions. “People should have seen this coming,” he said. “This is a very worrying time for our staff and their families.”
The disturbance began shortly after 4pm on Saturday. Between 70 and 80 inmates used snooker tables, chairs and other furniture to barricade themselves into a recreation area. They threw snooker balls at prison officers, forcing staff to withdraw.
The rest of the prison was locked down, with inmates confined to their cells. A team of senior prison officials, including governor John Lonergan, tried to reason with the inmates to end their protest peacefully.
However, a 56-strong control and restrain team was eventually sent into the recreation area to restore order at about 6pm. Many of the inmates resisted and confrontations ensued for about 40 minutes during which the officer had his teeth broken.
Inmates sprayed prison officers with fire extinguishers, resulting in some staff who inhaled fire retardant chemicals requiring hospital treatment.
