Wexfordman Brian retires as the Governor of Mountjoy Prison
WEXFORDMAN Brian Murphy has retired as Governor of Mountjoy after four years in charge of the prison and a 40-year career in the public service.
Brian, a native of Coolballow became the 41st Governor of the State’s most historic prison which has been operating since 1870.
He took over in September 2014 shortly before the Kinahan-Hutch feud erupted when criminals aligned to both sides of the feuding gangs were accommodated in the prison.
However, as a result of the bitter falling out which has so far claimed the lives of 18 people in the community, measures were taken to ensure the safety of everyone within the prison system and Mountjoy was selected as the facility where members of the Kinahan organised crime gang and their associates would be separately housed.
There are currently 50 such prisoners in Mountjoy, either awaiting trial or serving sentences for involvement in activities directly related to the gang warefare.
As Governor of the prison, Brian played a key role in the management of the feud within the prison system and during his time in charge he found himself having to deal with some of the country’s most violent and dangerous criminals.
Speaking at his retirement function in Mountjoy, Director General of the Prison Service, Michael Donnellan, praised the Wexfordman for the many positive initiatives and improvements he had introduced for the benefit of both staff and prisoners in Mountjoy during his time in charge there.
All the guest speakers made special reference to the humanity that Brian consistently showned to prisoners and their families in his dealings with them over the years and for which he would long be remembered.
Mr. Donnellan thanked Brian for the contribution he made as a member of the Senior Management Team of the Irish Prison Service over the past seven years. He praised him for the work he had done as Director of Operations between 2010 and 2014 when a dramatic reduction in the prisoner population was successfully achieved under his direct management.
The Director General said Brian had a very distinguished career in the public service and he thanked him of behalf of the State for his many years of dedicated service across a number of Government departments including Social Welfare, Agriculture Food (in both Johnstown Castle and Kildare Street), Finance and more recently Justice and Equality. Brian said he was looking forward in retirement to spending more quality time with his family, undertaking travel abroad and becoming involved in voluntary work.