The "dirty" protest at Cork prison continued yesterday in the D unit where unruly prisoners are punished. Special arrangements are being made by the prison authorities to clean the cells where up to 10 inmates are held at any given time.
The protest began last Saturday when five prisoners in the special unit refused to wash themselves or use the toilets and began smearing excrement on the walls.
Since then, two prisoners have abandoned the protest but the prison governor, Mr Frank McCarthy, confirmed yesterday that the remaining three were continuing to protest.
It is understood their action is in response to the prison authorities' refusal to allow physical contact during visiting hours. They are also objecting to plans to cover the exercise yard with a fine mesh to prevent drugs being thrown over the wall to prisoners.
In the past, tennis balls and footballs containing drugs, mainly ecstasy tablets and cannabis, were thrown over the wall to prisoners waiting in the exercise yard.
The prison authorities responded by placing a wire mesh over the yard. In response, those outside the prison now throw lightbulbs containing drugs over the wall. They usually break on contact with the mesh and drugs fall out into the yard.
Prison staff are planning to remove the old mesh and replace it with a very fine mesh which will prevent the drugs reaching prisoners. Officially, prisoners at the jail, including more than 100 who staged a sit-in protest in the exercise yard last week, say they are campaigning against loss of light which would be caused by the new mesh.
Mr McCarthy said yesterday that a "dirty" protest in the D unit was not unusual. Similar protests had occurred in the past. Special cleaning equipment was available to staff and this was used regularly to clean cells. The inmates were moved to other cells during cleaning.
Prisoners are accepting food as normal. "Usually, this type of action lasts for a few days," said Mr McCarthy. "As of now we have no indication as to when it might end and, otherwise, prison life is going on as per usual."
It is understood the three prisoners who are continuing to protest were placed in the D unit because of serious offences involving assaults on prison staff in two cases and in the third for drug-taking in prison. Prisoners from other jails in the Republic are periodically sent to the D unit in Cork, which is the only one of its kind in Irish prisons.
The maximum period of detention there is two months during which prisoners are deprived of privileges, including visits by friends and relatives, telephone calls and letters.
However, the system allows a prisoner to seek a meeting with the governor each day and, depending on behaviour, privileges may be restored or the time spent in isolation reduced.