A new report on the Prison Service has said the failure to assess the dangers prisoners pose has allowed criminal gangs to develop in a number of jails.
The report on the culture and organisation of the prisons, which was conducted by the Office of the Inspector of Prisons, also said the prison service does not have a clear operational strategy for dealing with criminal gangs in prison.
It said that some staff members prefer to turn a blind eye to gang activities and more needs to be done to tackle the problem.
While the report mainly deals the administration, organisation and structures of the Prison Service, it is not only highly critical that a gang culture has developed but also accuses the prison service of allowing it to happen.
Ireland’s 13 prisons are virtually free standing institutions but the report said this has meant there is very little individual classification of inmates, unlike in Scotland where they are categorised as low, medium and high security.
The absence of such a security assessment, the Inspector of Prisons said, has allowed the development of gangs in some of the prisons.
These can be from a particular town or area, an extension of the hierarchies on the streets or based on drug dealing or other contraband.
The report accepted that while gangs are a feature of prison life in many countries, it said prisons in Ireland do not have a clear operational structure for dealing with them and prisoners who refuse to concede to the gang leaders are put under pressure and subject to violence.
The report also said that some individual staff members appear to be at a loss as to how to manage gang violence and disorder and prefer turn a blind eye to gang activities, which results in the transfer to other prisons of the victims, not the perpetrators.
The report depicted a prison environment where strong groups of prisoners wield significant informal power while others are suffering and fearful for their safety, either for the nature of their crime or other reasons.
This, it said, is partially the reason for the relatively large number of prisoners on protection, which is in reality isolation.
The report acknowledged that the Prison Service has made strenuous efforts to deal with the problem and reduced the number of inmates on protection and the extent of their isolation, but it said more needs to be done to deal with the symptoms as well as the cause of the problem.
It said the Prison Service should consider an audit of the education, work training and other rehabilitative resources in each prison before developing individual assessments, including security issues, to be used to allocate convicted prisoners to the prison most capable of meeting their needs.
The report said the existence of criminal gangs in prison militates against ensuring prisoners are treated with dignity in accordance with the required standards.
