Representatives from prison services from six different countries are in Co Laois for a two-day workshop to understand how a Red Cross project inside Irish prisons is having a positive effect.
Ireland was the first country to pilot the programme in Wheatfield Prison in 2009 and now it is across all the prisons in Ireland, with more than 1,000 ‘Red Cross inmate volunteers’ trained.
Prisoners use the Community Based Health and First Aid (CBHFA) programme to learn and then teach others about all sorts of issues, from hygienic hand washing to mental health awareness to understanding drugs and how to treat an overdose.
They meet on a weekly basis and then go back to their landings to talk to the general population of prisoners about what they have learned, becoming peer-to-peer educators.
Frances Daly, governor of the programme and Cloverhill prison, said it would not work without the staff in prisons supporting it.
The workshop is being held in Portlaoise at the Irish Prison Service College, which is next to Midlands Prison.
Yesterday, the visitors, along with members of the International Red Cross, were taken inside the main prison to meet those involved in the programme and hear how being part of it makes them feel.
The prisoners said it is a positive way to spend their time.
'Kevin', who was in Cloverhill before being moved to the Midlands Prison, said it keeps his family positive knowing he is doing something good while inside.
'Brian' stood up in front of the group in the prison library to talk about hand-washing techniques to prevent the spread of infections such as TB.
He said he learned how important it was to tell other prisoners to wash their hands well because they are so many people coming and going.
'Michael' and 'Liam' came down to Portlaoise from Loughane House open prison. They addressed the workshop and told how they have both had a very positive experience with CBHFA.
'Michael' said it makes the "us and them" relationship a lot easier, saying "it breaks down barriers" between prison staff and prisoners.
'Liam' became a facilitator of the course, the trainee turning trainer, and just last week he had 16 young volunteers graduate from the programme, which he described as a "great experience".
Red Cross programme manager Carrie McGowan says the personal development of the prisoners who take part is evident when their families come along to their ‘graduation’ once the training has been completed.
She described CBHFA as one of the many positive aspects of prison life, which she says is good to focus on rather than the negative.
The prisoners’ real names have not been used in this report.
