Search Results for 'Penology'

On a chilly day in March 1788, John Howard rode into Castlebar on horseback. When he arrived in Dublin days earlier, he noted, ‘I shall set out next week for Connaught and other remote parts of this country, which indeed are more barbarous than the wilds of Russia’.

I pass prison cells. A single beam of light glows from each cell, each beam of light symbolising a life, a mind, and a willingness to learn. I can’t help but think about the wasted opportunities, gifts and talents that are unable to blossom.

Togo is a small country about the size of Ireland. It is one of the poorest countries in the world and has been ruled by the same family for almost 50 years. The justice system is severely under-resourced and the prison system a direct reflection of that. The Central Prison of Lome was built for 600 people. It currently holds over 2,000. Each cell, roughly the size of your average Irish kitchen, holds about 80 people. To sleep only some prisoners get to lie down, side by side like in a sardine can. For this privilege you pay. The rest have to sit around the edge of the room or stand. There is one toilet and shower (ie bucket) per cell. Prisoners are served one meal a day. On average prisoners wait 3-4 years to receive their sentence. Legal representation is mostly absent. Aggression, violence, rape, abuse, bullying and intimidation are the norm. One man described inside as being like a war zone.

No matter what when on in the build up to this game, the simple truth when it came down to the crunch was that Dublin were the better team and won out in the end. The pantomime theatrics of the crowd booing the perceived villain on either side of the debate gave way to a game of football in the end and Dublin were the side who landed the knock-out blows when it mattered most.

A man from Ballina was who was found in possession of €30 worth of drugs at Castlebar Garda Station was before Ballina District Court this week for a probation report. Judge Mary Devins said that the man seems to be “making some moves in the right direction”.

A 21-year-old man who filled up with his car with €30 worth of diesel and drove off without paying was back before Ballina District Court this week for a probation report.

A pregnant woman awaiting a Circuit Court sentence for false imprisonment during a burglary was warned she would still go to jail if she came to any further Garda attention within the next six months.

A Galway man who stole two purses from a back office of a shop on Christmas Eve was handed a 12 month prison sentence with the last three months suspended in Castlebar District Court on Tuesday this week. Martin McDonagh, of 64 Corrib Park, Newcastle, Co Galway pleaded guilty to the charges in court. The court was told that McDonagh went into the back room of Daly’s Newsagent at the Tesco shopping centre in Claremorris on December 24 2011 at 2.35pm and stole two purses from two handbags from the room. The gardai were called and Garda Brandley attended the scene and was shown CCTV footage which clearly showed McDonagh taking the purses from the handbags and putting them inside his trousers and making his exit from the shop.

The Probation Service has been ordered to be more creative, after it emerged that a man with a bad back following a serious accident was offered nothing but litter collection for community service.

The Irish prison system is not working and needs a complete overhaul, participants at the Prison Officers conference heard yesterday when the annual event opened in Kilkenny.