Surge in drugs and violence at Castlerea Prison after IRA releases

Ali Bracken, Crime Correspondent

Pearse McAuley: 'ruling roost'

MAJOR security concerns have arisen in the Grove area of Castlerea Prison as it is no longer controlled by the provisional IRA following the release of several political prisoners.

The killers of garda Jerry McCabe – Pearse McAuley and Kevin Walsh – were released in August and had been "ruling the roost" at the Grove prior to that.

In the past 12 months, several other political prisoners have been released from the jail. The Grove was once tightly controlled by IRA inmates, who did not permit drugs and controlled all violence. But several prisoners from the "normal prison population" are now being housed at the Grove and drug use has become widespread, as have acts of violence.

A prison source said there were security concerns for prison officers in the Grove area. McAuley and Walsh previously maintained a semblance of order among inmates and nothing happened "without their say so". The Grove area of the prison is a low-security section where prisoners live in two-storey accommodation.

The two IRA prisoners lived in their own house, which would normally accommodate up to nine inmates.

"I suppose everyone had gotten used to the situation whereby the IRA controlled that area of the prison and they did keep order there. They were very anti-drugs, none were permitted at all. They ran a tight ship. Now they've gone and the dynamic has totally changed in the Grove," said the source.

"It is going to have to be managed, we need to bring this situation under control."

October 25, 2009

Comments

#1 Ciaran Dearle commented, on October 25, 2009 at 8:16 p.m.:

It is very surprising your Crime Correspondent thinks there were ever any "political prisoners" in Castlerea or any other Irish prison. People get sent to prison in Ireland for their crimes - like, say, shooting an innocent garda in the back with an AK47 assault rifle - and not any political beliefs they may have.

#2 David commented, on October 26, 2009 at 12:10 p.m.:

Ciaran, unfortunately our government deemed these prisoners to be political by giving them special treatment like the low security status of the Grove. The transfer to the Grove was an outcome of political negotiations around the Good Friday Agreement.

#3 Conor commented, on October 27, 2009 at 12:39 p.m.:

Ha. The prison authorities need the IRA to prevent drug use in their prisons!! LOL

#4 Gordon commented, on October 28, 2009 at 5:58 p.m.:

Of course there were political prisoners held on both sides of the border during the northern conflict. The attempt by Ciaran (above) to describe the 30 year conflict as a criminal conspiracy holds as much water as Margaret Thatcher's attempt back in 1981. Criminals dont have the resolve to hunger strike to the death or get elected to parliament with 30,000 votes.

#5 Roger Rafferty commented, on October 29, 2009 at 7:48 p.m.:

Obviously the solution here is to employ the IRA as prison warders. This would save the country a fortune - both on dole which the IRA men will get otherwise as they are unlikely to have employers falling over themselves to give them work in the current climate, along with their cvs with rather large blanks (imagine the job interview question: "Can you explain what kind of study you were engaged in for the past 12 years then, and what kind of university is there in Castlerea or Portlaoise?" ) There could also be considerable saving on the high wages paid to Prison Officers on overtime, as it's unlikely the IRA people would probably need to do much considering the fear they seem to instill in prisoners who'd be in big trouble if they were naughty boys while the IRA screws were off. It would also save the state by reducing damage to prison property such as results from the usual fracas, contretemps and argy-bargy between prisoners, such as broken chamber-pots and wrecked plasma televisions and dvd players. I think this is an idea in keeping with the musings of Professor McCarthy and his Bord Snip Nua hatchet persons committee: it has as no morality whatsoever, and makes sense when looked at from a purely financial perspective.

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