The new prison for pensioners
Former training unit at Mountjoy will be repurposed to house the one in ten offenders who are aged over 55
A NEW unit for people over the age of 55 is being built at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
The unit will be on the site of the former training unit and will cater for some or all of the older prisoners who make up 10% of the prison population.
Nearly half of these are serving time for sex offences, while about one in six – 16% – are there for murder or manslaughter.
This week, the Irish Prison Service confirmed that it was ‘repurposing’ the training unit at Mountjoy Prison to make it a ‘dedicated unit for older prisoners’.
The decision is part of a Prison Service strategic plan to ensure ‘older prisoners are identified as a specific group who have particular needs’, according to a spokesman.
The latest figures from the Prison Service show there are 404 male and 12 female prisoners over the age of 50 in Irish prisons. Among them are 61 male prisoners aged between 60 and 64, 30 between 70 and 74, 18 aged 74 to 79, four aged 79 to 84 and two aged over 85.
The oldest female prisoner is aged between 64 and 69.
Older prisoners are more likely to be abused and bullied by other inmates while in prison, according to a report last year by the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT).
The Prison Service said that these prisoners’ needs would now be addressed. A spokesman said: ‘The unit will allow the Prison Service to accommodate such prisoners in a purpose-built unit within close proximity to a variety of medical care.’ It is envisaged that the repurposing of the unit will take 18 months to two years.
However, no budget or plans have yet been finalised.
Notorious older prisoners include Patrick O’Brien, 76, who raped his daughter, Fiona Doyle.
Other older prisoners are Brian Kearney, 62, who killed his wife Siobhán at their Goatstown home; ‘Black Widow’ Catherine Nevin, 62, who is suffering from cancer; and Ireland’s longest-serving prisoner, John Shaw, 75.