Dóchas jail for women worst for assaults on prison staff

THE most dangerous prison for staff is the female Dóchas Centre in Dublin, it has emerged.

New figures show that 26 prison workers were assaulted last year at the Dóchas Centre which houses the largest proportion of women prisoners in Ireland.

The number of assaults at the Dóchas Centre is more than double the number at Mountjoy Prison where 12 assaults occurred against staff.

Cloverhill Prison in Dublin recorded the second highest number of prisoner-on-prison staff assaults with 21 attacks against prison staff.

It is understood that 19 of the 26 assaults last year at the Dóchas jail relate to three disruptive prisoners and two have since been transferred to alternative facilities.

President of the Irish Prison Officer Association, Stephen Delaney, said yesterday that the Dochas centre ‘is a very challenging environment’ for his members.

The prison houses nine of the ten female ‘lifers’ in the system and they include ‘Scissor Sister’ Charlotte Mulhall, who is serving a life term for the murder and dismemberment of Farah Swaleh Noor in 2005.

Another is Marta Herda, 29, who last year received a life term for the murder of Csaba Orsos, 31, who she drowned by driving her car off a pier.

Across the Irish Prison system last year, figures show that 670 assaults took place with prisoner-on-prisoner assaults making up 85% (572) of jail attacks.