Anyone here ever done time?

boo3000 · 20-06-2012 06:51PM #1

I don't know if this has been covered here before and I better set out that im not planning on committing a crime but im just wondering what it's like to be in prison in Ireland?

There's seems to be two schools of opinion on the matter which go along with traditional political divides; that it is either a holiday camp, or a filthy and overcrowded mess with little to do but rot away taking heroin.

But what's it really like? I mean day to day what do you do? Can you follow a hobby or read or exercise or are you stuck in a cell staring at the walls. How cut off are you from the outside world, i know mobiles aren't allowed but would you get some time on the internet?

How much TV can you watch, what's the food like? Prison wardens? Is there camaraderie between prisoners? Is there much violence?

Do you think people treat you differently if you've been to prison, even for a minor offense?

Rasheed · 20-06-2012 06:56PM

Good thread but I'm no good to ya, I've never been locked up, only got a tour of castlerea prison when I was in school. Seemed strict enough, didn't see much of a holiday camp, wouldn't entice me to break the law anyway!

Where To · 20-06-2012 06:57PM

I got detention once but I was an innocent man.

OMARS_COMING_ · 20-06-2012 06:58PM

Yes,but not in Ireland.

fryup · 20-06-2012 06:59PM

just, don't drop the soap

Conall Cernach · 20-06-2012 06:59PM

I've never been in prison but several of people I know, including family members, have been so I've learned a few things about it.

Other prisoners are scary guys who are more than likely on something. Drugs and mobile phones are easily accessible. Many prisoners are in and out so often that they know all the screws and their families by first name and vice versa. Over crowding and slopping out are degrading and the authorities probably keep it that way on purpose. Mountjoy and Limerick are some of the worst places on Earth.

If you're in another prison you may not be so overcrowded so you may actually be able to take up education or something like that. A bloke I know got a BA from the Open University while in Portlaoise and produced some great looking craft works to boot.

Kylo Ren · 20-06-2012 06:59PM

I've seen Shawshank Redemption countless times if that counts.

ResearchWill · 20-06-2012 07:00PM

Did a tour of the joy once, as part of the course I was doing at the time, not a nice place, the women's prison is lovely but still scary.

boo3000 · 20-06-2012 07:00PM

Yes,but not in Ireland.

I'd be very interested to hear about it anyway?

mikom · 20-06-2012 07:00PM

boo3000 wrote: »

Do you think people treat you differently if you've been to prison, even for a minor offense?

Ah now, nobody has respect for peados...

fasttalkerchat · 20-06-2012 07:00PM

Visited people in prisons up North during the troubles (Maghaberry and Long Kesh). When I was a kid I didn't even know it was a prison, thought it was strange that a university had such high security! I remember all the other prisoners being really friendly and there was lots of sweets and chocolate for the kids visiting.

I imagine criminal prisons are totally different though so probably not the answer you want.

edgecutter · 20-06-2012 07:02PM

Keno 92 wrote: »

I've seen Shawshank Redemption countless times if that counts.

I could be a friend to you

boo3000 · 20-06-2012 07:03PM

I imagine criminal prisons are totally different though so probably not the answer you want.

It's all interesting and makes a good comparison aswell, cheers.

Odysseus · 20-06-2012 07:03PM

Well it is nothing like the media would have you believe. I had a client killed whilst on protection.

On protection is 23 hour lock up in a cell with up to five others. Mountjoy is a kip, Wheatfeild/Cloverhill is better. At the end of the you are still without your freedom.

In some you can study in others not, they are far from holiday camps.

SafeSurfer · 20-06-2012 07:07PM

The way prisoners are treated in Ireland is shocking. Overcrowding, huge levels of violence and intimidation, inadequate supervision and lack of education and training oppourtunities. The state has a duty of care to prison inmates. A duty that it fails abysmally everyday.

In the not too distant future there will be a redress board for ex prisoners similar to those that suffered in Industrial schools and Magdalene laundries in the past.

boo3000 · 20-06-2012 07:14PM

SafeSurfer wrote: »

In the not too distant future there will be a redress board for ex prisoners similar to those that suffered in Industrial schools and Magdalene laundries in the past.

I can't see that ever having the public support to happen, i don't know nearly enough to say whether is deserving or not, but i just can't see the public ever getting behind it

SafeSurfer · 20-06-2012 07:19PM

boo3000 wrote: »

I can't see that ever having the public support to happen, i don't know nearly enough to say whether is deserving or not, but i just can't see the public ever getting behind it

Well not that long ago people believed unmarried mothers should go to the laundries, truants to industrial schools etc etc.

Society's perception of what is criminal and what justifies punishment changes over time. I think that the justice and penal system of our time will come to be viewed as just as shameful to future generations as that of 1950's Ireland is to us in the present day.

That in the depths of a depression, not a recession, we are still jailing people for non payment of fines is Dickensian.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 20-06-2012 07:20PM

Like somebody has already mentioned your prison experience all depends on where you serve your time. I read former Mountjoy Governor John Lonergan's book recently and the conditions he describes within Mountjoy are appalling. Overcrowding in cells, slopping out every morning, being locked down for large parts of the day, doesn't sound too easy at all tbf.

Nothingbetter2d · 20-06-2012 07:20PM

i know a few apples that did time.... they are now a can of cider :P

El Weirdo · 20-06-2012 07:21PM

Odysseus wrote: »

I had a client killed whilst on protection.

Was he not paying you?

:pac:

boo3000 · 20-06-2012 07:23PM

SafeSurfer wrote: »

That in the depths of a depression, not a recession, we are still jailing people for non payment of fines is Dickensian.

I agree fully there, i can just never the public getting behind a general prison population, if that general population includes rapists, pedophiles etc.

pickarooney · 20-06-2012 07:25PM

Odysseus wrote: »

I had a client killed whilst on protection.

You might want to rephrase that...

fran17 · 20-06-2012 07:30PM

never been near a prison myself but hear that lots of men turn sissy and put on a dress and lipstick:pac:

Jester252 · 20-06-2012 07:34PM

All I know is prison guards make a lot of money

daltonmd · 20-06-2012 07:35PM

SafeSurfer wrote: »

The way prisoners are treated in Ireland is shocking. Overcrowding, huge levels of violence and intimidation, inadequate supervision and lack of education and training oppourtunities. The state has a duty of care to prison inmates. A duty that it fails abysmally everyday.

The overcrowding and physical layout of some our prisons are beyond the control of the staff.
The violence and intimidation is between the prisoners themselves and the supervision is as adeqaute as the staffing levels allow it to be. If staff didn't do their jobs, you can guarentee that prison issues would be front page news 7 days a week.

In every prison there is an education unit, run by the department of education, there is a very small take up from inmates, they cannot be forced to go.

There is a range of courses available. There is also access to a doctor each day, prisoners in need of other help are assessed and referred by the medical teams accordingly.

The state has indeed a duty of care to prisoners, but they won't give the budget that it would take to fulfill that obligation, again staff cannot be blamed for this.

SafeSurfer wrote: »

In the not too distant future there will be a redress board for ex prisoners similar to those that suffered in Industrial schools and Magdalene laundries in the past.

I think that may be the case many years ago, but in recent years prisoners rights have been top of the agenda.

Prison is not a nice place (I have, in my career, reason to visit prisons regulary and know a great many staff and prisoners).

Prisons run on two things - Goodwill of prisoners and goodwill of staff.

Rasheed · 20-06-2012 07:41PM

SafeSurfer wrote: »

The way prisoners are treated in Ireland is shocking. Overcrowding, huge levels of violence and intimidation, inadequate supervision and lack of education and training oppourtunities. The state has a duty of care to prison inmates. A duty that it fails abysmally everyday.

In the not too distant future there will be a redress board for ex prisoners similar to those that suffered in Industrial schools and Magdalene laundries in the past.

Am I the only one that thinks most of these people should have a bit of hardship for their crimes? People do complain about lenient judges, short sentences so why should we make their stay pleasent? Spending tax payers money on improving jails while hospital wards and schools are closing?

Daisy03 · 20-06-2012 07:47PM

Conall Cernach wrote: »

I've never been in prison but several of people I know, including family members, have been so I've learned a few things about it.

Other prisoners are scary guys who are more than likely on something. Drugs and mobile phones are easily accessible. Many prisoners are in and out so often that they know all the screws and their families by first name and vice versa. Over crowding and slopping out are degrading and the authorities probably keep it that way on purpose. Mountjoy and Limerick are some of the worst places on Earth.

If you're in another prison you may not be so overcrowded so you may actually be able to take up education or something like that. A bloke I know got a BA from the Open University while in Portlaoise and produced some great looking craft works to boot.

Any prison officer that tells prisoners the name of members of his family is very foolish. My dad is in the army and occasionally he is on duty for a few weeks at a time in one of the prisons. As far as I remember he has to remove any identifying badges from his uniform. One has his name on it and he can't wear it while there. That being said as he isnt a prison officer he wouldnt have any interaction with prisoners.

El Weirdo · 20-06-2012 07:50PM

Jester252 wrote: »

All I know is prison guards make a lot of money

True. I'd say Gordon is on a serious wedge.

Shryke · 20-06-2012 07:52PM

Rasheed wrote: »

Am I the only one that thinks most of these people should have a bit of hardship for their crimes? People do complain about lenient judges, short sentences so why should we make their stay pleasent? Spending tax payers money on improving jails while hospital wards and schools are closing?

When they come out the other side you want them to be somewhat reformed and to function as a part of society. Unless you would rather see people come out worse than they came in. More violent, more damaged and abused, more well versed in criminal means, better connected.
Conditions and sentence length are two different things.

Odysseus · 20-06-2012 08:06PM

boo3000 wrote: »

I can't see that ever having the public support to happen, i don't know nearly enough to say whether is deserving or not, but i just can't see the public ever getting behind it

Yes but when you are locked up the State is responsible for your care, and sadly that care is p!ss poor currently. I could see this happening at some stage.

Odysseus · 20-06-2012 08:09PM

El Weirdo wrote: »

Was he not paying you?

:pac:

Not at all, I';m appalled at your suggestion. Miss my bill and I make such you stay alive to feel the pain:p

Anyone here ever done time?

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