The jail evil Patrick Quirke was sent to for the murder of “love rival” Bobby Ryan is the most dangerous in the country, it has been revealed.
Figures from the Irish Prison Service show the number of inmate-on-inmate assaults in Dublin's Mountjoy totalled 110 last year.
Earlier this month, Co Tipperary farmer Quirke, 50 – prisoner 107243 – was put in a cell in the basement of the Dublin jail for one night after his committal before being
transferred to a different wing.
The assaults at the male prison account for 26% of the 418 prisoner-on-prisoner attacks across the entire jail system in 2018.
The Mountjoy incidents were three less than the 113 that took place there in 2017 .
The next highest number was 76 at Castlerea, with 54 recorded at Cloverhill, 44 at the Midlands and 42 at Cork.
The 418 inmate-on-inmate assaults total is one higher than the 417 in 2017.
The figures also revealed Mountjoy was the prison that recorded the highest number of assaults by prisoners on staff with 24 last year – the next highest was Cork with 15.
Deputy general secretary with the Prisoner Officers’ Association Jim Mitchell yesterday told how the jail is “a particularly difficult environment to work in due to the number of gangs”.
He said their presence contributes to tensions which officers must keep a lid on.
Mountjoy is one of the largest prisons in the country and Mr Mitchell claimed the “sheer numbers” contributes to the number of assaults.
He added that a number of the 418 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults “would have required officer involvement”.
Mr Mitchell explained that across the system assaults include staff being “kicked at, punched, bitten, scalded, head-butted and hit with chamber pots”.
He said: “There is no respect for gender in the attacks as female staff across the estate have been victims of assault.
“Staff are under no illusions – we know we are not in charge of Teletubbies. Some of the
prisoners are people who have committed serious violent crime and our ambition is to reduce the assaults to zero.”
The 110 attacks on staff last year was the highest in four years and compares to 104 in 2017, 98 in 2016 and 91 in 2015.
However the number represents a sharp drop on the 151 assaults carried out in 2014.
Mr Mitchell added: “We never put much emphasis on statistics as it takes only one assault to disfigure a prison officer.”
Statistics also show restraint interventions last year increased by 50% from 91 to 137, with 21 at Mountjoy and the highest number taking place at Wheatfield prison at 23.
