Dóchas Centre
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The Dóchas Centre (
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
: ''lárionad le Dóchas'') is a closed, medium security prison, for females aged 18 years and over, located in
Mountjoy Prison Mountjoy Prison ( ga, Príosún Mhuinseo), founded as Mountjoy Gaol and nicknamed ''The Joy'', is a medium security men's prison located in Phibsborough in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. The current prison Governor is Edward Mullins. History ...
in Dublin, Ireland. It is also the committal prison for females committed on remand or sentenced from all Courts outside the
Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...
area of Ireland. Dóchas is one of two women's prisons in Ireland, the other is located in
Limerick Prison Limerick Prison in Limerick is an Irish penal institution. It is a closed, medium security prison, and has an official capacity of 290 male beds and 20 female beds. The average daily number of male inmates in 2009 was 298 and of female inmates ...
. It has a staff of 88 not including teachers, chaplains, nurses, probation and welfare, doctors, psychiatrists and counsellors. ' is
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
for hope making the literal name of the prison ''"Centre for Hope."'' In 2022, the prison was quietly renamed to Mountjoy Female Prison.


History

Mountjoy Female Prison opened in 1858 and has been the largest female prison in the country ever since. In 1956 the female prison at Mountjoy was given over to young male offenders and became St. Patrick's Institution. The small numbers of women at the time were moved to a basement of one wing of St Patrick's Institution. Female prisoners were detained in the basement until 1990 when they were moved into one wing of St Patrick's Institution. The wing was used for female prisoners until 1999 when women moved into the Dóchas Centre. A campus style female prison within Mountjoy Prison, Dóchas was designed for twice the number of female prisoners that the old wing of St. Patrick's Institution could accommodate.


Ethos

The
ethos Ethos ( or ) is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology; and the balance between caution, and passion. The Greeks also used this word to refer to ...
of the centre is for inmates to live as close as possible to a life in ordinary accommodation. The prison operates with inmates expected to behave in the same way as one would manage their own home in relation to cleaning, cooking, laundering etc. The regimes within the centre is on training and development. These activities are structured like a normal working day. Staff are encouraged to wear civilian clothing rather than
uniform A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, se ...
s.


Accommodation and Facilities

Prisoners are accommodated in seven separate houses with each house accommodating ten to twelve people except for one called Cedar which can accommodate eighteen women. The pre-release centre called Phoenix accommodates women in private rooms or in self-contained studio apartments. Inmates live in en-suite rooms with keys to their rooms meaning they can move about relatively freely. Houses are locked at 7.30pm with all the women in the prison being locked into their rooms at that time except for women in Cedar and Phoenix Houses. Houses and rooms are unlocked at 7.30am. Prisoners organise their own breakfasts in the kitchens of the houses and eat lunch with prison staff in the dining room with an evening meal being served in the dining room at 5pm. Each house has a kitchen/dining room with sitting room facility which contains a television and reading material. Mothers are permitted to keep new born babies with them in the centre but when the children reach 12 months old, they must leave the prison.


Education and training programmes

The centre offers training and education programmes to inmates. These include:-
hairdressing A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A Hairdresser may also be refe ...
,
beauty therapy Cosmetology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''kosmētikos'', "beautifying"; and , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia'') is the study and application of beauty treatment. Branches of specialty include hairstyle, hairstyling, skin care, cosmetics, manicures/p ...
and photography as well as
FETAC The Further Education and Training Awards Council ( ga, Comhairle na nDámhachtainí Breisoideachais agus Oiliúna) or FETAC was a statutory qualification-awarding body for further education in Ireland. It was established on 11 June 2001 under th ...
programmes and Leaving and
Junior Cert Junior Cycle ( ga, An tSraith Shóisearach ) is the first stage of the education programme for post-primary education within the Republic of Ireland. It is overseen by the State Examinations Commission of the Department of Education (Ireland), ...
courses. There is a gym which runs aerobic classes and a sport and fitness programme as well as an outdoor basketball court. There is also a Health Care Unit staffed by nurses and a doctor with a visiting
psychiatric Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psychi ...
and dental service.


Prisoner profile

The centre holds women on remand, women awaiting sentencing, sentenced prisoners, and women detained under immigration legislation. The director-general of the Irish Prison Service, Brian Purcell, categorised the inmates as a quarter serving sentences for murder,
manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...
or conspiracy to murder, another quarter serving sentences of over a year for robbery, theft or criminal-damage offences with a 20% plus serving sentences for possession of drugs for the purpose of supply. Drugs are a problem with inmates with
cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...
being the most common although E tablets have been found. Approximately 30% of the prisoners are on
methadone Methadone, sold under the brand names Dolophine and Methadose among others, is a synthetic opioid agonist used for chronic pain and also for opioid dependence. It is used to treat chronic pain, and it is also used to treat addiction to heroin ...
maintenance. Although the prison is designated to accommodate females over 18 years of age, there has been cases of juveniles being remanded to the centre.


Controversies


Prisoner pictures in the media

In August 2008, pictures taken on a mobile phone appeared in the media of
Scissor sisters Scissor Sisters were an American pop rock band formed in 2001. Its members include Jake Shears and Ana Matronic as vocalists, Babydaddy as multi-instrumentalist, Del Marquis as lead guitar/bassist, and Randy Real (who replaced Paddy Boom) as dr ...
killers, Charlotte Mulhall holding a knife to a male inmate's throat. The resulting fallout led to a security audit being carried out at the prison with the installation of walk through detectors and
X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10  picometers to 10  nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
scanners at the prison. Mulhall herself was transferred to Limerick Prison.
Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil à ...
justice spokesman
Charles Flanagan Charlie Flanagan (born 1 November 1956) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Laois–Offaly constituency since 2020, and previously from 1987 to 2002, 2007 to 2016 and from 2016 to 2020 for the Laois const ...
said: ''"Prisoners are holding up two fingers to the criminal justice system and these pictures show that prison security is a shambles. It beggars belief that a convicted knife murderer would be allowed access to a potentially lethal kitchen knife".'' Labour Party justice spokesman
Pat Rabbitte Pat Rabbitte (born 18 May 1949) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources from 2011 to 2014, Leader of the Labour Party from 2002 to 2007 and a Minister of State from 199 ...
asked ''"How is it that a prisoner convicted of a particularly gruesome murder was apparently in possession of what appears to be a potentially lethal knife?"''


Overcrowding controversy

Dochas is designed to accommodate 85 prisoners but frequently runs at 136 per cent capacity, around 115 prisoners. In April 2010 Governor Kathleen McMahon announced her resignation as governor of the Dochas Centre fearing a reversion to "self-mutilation, bullying, depression and lesbianism". One of the features of the prison was that each prisoner had their own room. In the weeks leading up to her resignation there were cases where five inmates were sharing a room. The resignation was as a result of a failure by the Department of Justice to consult her about putting in bunk beds to hold more prisoners. As of June 2010, 106 inmates were in custody with a further 73 inmates on temporary release. Overcrowding has been compounded by homelessness with some prisoners being granted release refusing to leave as they have nowhere to live. In one case an inmate who was granted early release was arrested after trying to break in by scaling the gate of the prison to return to the centre.


High profile inmates

The centre has housed and continues to house a number of high-profile inmates, these include:- *
Shell to Sea Shell to Sea ( ga, Shell chun Sáile) is an Irish organisation based in the parish of Kilcommon in Erris, County Mayo. It opposes the proposed construction of a natural gas pipeline through the parish, as well as the ongoing construction—by ...
activist,
Maura Harrington Maura Harrington (born 15 September 1953) is a spokesperson for the Shell to Sea campaign, from County Mayo, Ireland. A retired school principal of Inver National School, she has been jailed on a number of occasions for her involvement in Shell ...
. *
Catherine Nevin Catherine Nevin (; 1 October 1950 – 19 February 2018) was an Irish woman who was convicted in 2000 of murdering her husband Tom Nevin at Jack White's Inn, a pub owned by the couple in County Wicklow. The jury in her trial also found her gui ...
*
Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters were an American pop rock band formed in 2001. Its members include Jake Shears and Ana Matronic as vocalists, Babydaddy as multi-instrumentalist, Del Marquis as lead guitar/bassist, and Randy Real (who replaced Paddy Boom) as dr ...
killers Linda and Charlotte Mulhall and their mother. The centre currently houses "London's Most Dangerous Woman" FARAH DAMJI while she awaits extradition and is awaiting trial in Ireland for the use of an Icelandic passport.


Future

There are plans to replace the Dóchas Centre with a new women's prison as part of the planned Thornton Hall prison complex.


See also

*
Prisons in Ireland Prisons in Ireland are one of the main forms of punishment, rehabilitation, or both for the commission of an indictable offense and other offenses. Authority In 1925, shortly after the establishment of the Irish Free State, Minister for ...
*
Administrative detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dochas Centre 1999 establishments in Ireland Prisons in the Republic of Ireland Penal system in the Republic of Ireland Women's prisons in Ireland