Making Hay. The Dept of Justice on Hols.

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis

Friday August 18, 2006 10:27

by Chris Murray - The Unmanageables

Independent and appointed committees report during the Recess.

This summer , the tribunals damning of Garda behaviour in Abbeylara,
In the Morris Tribunal and the annual scree of reports by government
appointed committees ensure that the old aversion to ensuring
humane treatment of prisoners, children in care and citizens in trauma
is part of this right-wing governments modus operandi.

The annual reportage of below-standard and inhumane treatment
of the vulnerable in our society is drained, leaked and given media
attention in the absence of the Dail and after the outrage: 'a storm in a tea-cup'
the well-furnished TD's can return to the hallowed halls of Kildare Street, assured
of it's vote majority .

This summer , the results of Morris on Gardai Misdemeanours to sections of the
Travelling community have been published, wherein 7 Travellers were wrongly
detained, accused of having a weapon and racially abused.
The offending officer is suspended on full-pay. There will be no criminal investigation.

The Abbeylara verdict came in and the Gardai were derided. A few succint sound bites
were thrown around. The gardai involved have been moved into other areas of the
force (some promoted) and the issue is effectively closed.

More telling in this short synopsis is the treatment of the prisoners and staff
at Mountjoy prison. The death by violence of one inmate, who had asked for
protective custody and was put in a holding cell with six men, one of whom was
schizophrenic and violent. There are three separate inquiries into that incident.
It was the fourth assault in three months, one other assault involved the stabbing in the
eye of a man who had been incarcerated for murder twenty four hours before
his assault. The prison officers have highlighted the budget problems and the
removal of facilities such as workshops and education. The men have access to
an excerise yard and communal area. They continue to slop out.
The service-(in a celtic tiger economy) has been criticised at every level
in Europe. Minister Mc Dowell clings relentlessly to the ideal of Thornton
Hall as a solution to his problems.

Mary Rafferty, in the times has published details of state-run children's homes
that are damning too. She states that restraints have been used in a routine
manner so as to cause harm.
(http://www.ireland.com)-17th of August 06.

The 1925 statute for the prison visiting committees and their responsibilities
are here: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/zzA11y192553.html

The inspection reports and Blurb for DOJ Here: http://www.issi.ie/inspection/inspection_reports/reports/

Many people can trip up in a merit-o-cracy, and it is very hard to get back up.
The state responsibility to people in crisis , (witness the state facilities
for children in care ) has been neglected. These children being habitually
restrained and having no encouragement would point to the negligence
at the heart of a system that is timed out in terms of usefulness.

The Ministers will return to the Dail, after recess. During the summer
months we are exposed to the underbelly of the celtic tiger and it is not
pretty.

save preference

Comments (16 of 16)

Making hay - very apt title

by jot1

Fri Aug 18, 2006 15:33

The title of this piece regarding the Department of Justice "making hay" is very apt. Harvesting of hay has just completed out in Thornton. Those passing by the "site" recently would be forgiven for mistaking it for a farm - tractors trundling through the fields, bales of hay dotted around....

or dead from the waist down...

by Catatonia - Making Hay

Fri Aug 18, 2006 20:37

(It's an old song, by Catatonia).

The Government has run it's time.

They are restraining traumatised children and allowing deaths in our prisons
because people mean nothing to them. These reports are the tip of the ice-berg.
The POA has been agigtaing on the issues of safety for some considerable
time and they are repressed by the State.

Kids go from St Pats, to Shelton, to the Joy and are treated with violence
for simple issues, it creates problems and adds to the suicide issue.

In the meantime the state gets away with all manner of corruption and abuse
and that is seen , felt and understood by the kids who end up on the wrong side
of the law. The cutting in funds to educational and re-hab programmes
can, for example be juxtaposed with the issue of financing for second properties,
bloodstock industry and lack of investment in essential services.

Rising violent crime and lack of segregation of psych patients is causing harm to
people who may have been arrested for petty crime or public order offences,
coupled with that evidence of brutal garda regimes and unexplianed custodial deaths
such as in Wheelock and Rossiter are press-released and studied out of existence
but the families are not getting answers.

The Thornton panacea is making a mockery out of a deprived and non-functional justice
system which is unique in Europe for it's medieval slopping out practices.
9 years in power and John O Donoghue and Michael Mc Dowell have not answered to
this scandal.

Shiny Silver bullets.

Sat Aug 19, 2006 10:28

The full text of the Minister for Justice's respone to the third/fourth/fifth reports of the
Morris tribunal are available from the Dept press release section:-http://www.justice.ie

The release is:- http://www.justice.ie/80256E01003a02CF/vweb/pcJUSQ6SRLFb-en

apparently.

The three reports are entitled:

The Silver Bullet Report.
Ardara Report
Burnfoot Report.

These are aptly named and media savvy- especially the silver bullet one- which deals
with the racial abuse of the travelling community and the planting a weapon
by a member of An Garda Siochana.

Citizen Owen Rice

by Mick Butler

Sun Aug 20, 2006 22:52

And they really made hay when they lifted Citizen Owen Rice of the streets of Dublin and drove him 90odd miles into the countryside. Was not that a mini coup for them. The stuff of south american tales and maybe tall stories, alas its true.

This is the real issue at hand right now in our own land.

re: Citizen Owen Rice.

Mon Aug 21, 2006 14:31

In reply:-

The Dept of Justice is currently dealing very publicly with the three reports on garda
corruption, the 'foundations' of which were laid before Michael Mc Dowell's time
thus he thinks he can stand on the podium and be-moan the failures of his
pre-decessors in relation to bullying, wrongful arrest and death at the hands of the
gardai.

However, what is happening to Owen now, is foundational. A man is set upon by
eight Gardai, arrested and committed to custody without a blink from the very same
people who are be-moaning endemic corruption in the Gardai.

Should not , therefore, the plight of Owen, the circumstances of his arrest,
witness to his arrest and committal and those intimately involved in what
he was investigating be taking this issue to the door of the justice department
cos the mainstream media will talk of the 'Silver Bullets' and the corruption
but this is happening under their noses and they ignore it.

Everyone knows where the Justice Dept is and the offices of Mc Dowell.

( I even know his house...)

Someone needs to get Owen's testimony of what has happened to him- release it publicly
and lobby on it politically. as usual , our wonderful opposition is ignoring the tenets
of the case because it is only about one person.

Criminal Justice Administration Act 1915.

Tue Aug 22, 2006 14:17

Today Minister Michael Mc Dowell issued two new directions to have the
committal orders of male prisoners from the regions changed from being
sent directly to the Joy from the regions outside Dublin, to the Midland's
Prison and Wheatfield.

The Directions are press-released on :

http://www.justice.ie (first page/press releases)

The Press release states that this will reduce committals of adult males to
Mountjoy by a quarter.

The POA don't seem as happy with the release as the State . They stated that
fail to see howthis is going to alleviate the pressures on the staff and prisoners in the jail
where cutbacks to rehab/education were also contributory factors to recent violence.

The vaunted solution is this:-male adult persons committed from the courts,
in Leinster and the regions, (excluding Longford) but including Roscommon,
will be committed from the first of September to the Midlands prison (not the JOY)

and male persons committed to custody from the courts from Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly
Kildare will be committed to Wheatfield Prison.

The direction comes under the 1915 Act (one of the Laws not updated by the FF/PD
regime, Criminal Justice Administration Act 1915).

The issue of overcrowding will be reduced therefore in a numerical way. The issue of
health/education/psychiatric care/counselling/art activities and spending cuts were
not addressed today- maybe another day.

Immigrants, Residence and Protection Bill 2006

by Chris Murray - the unmanageables

Wed Sep 06, 2006 20:20

This is a new law which will deal with the thorny issue of prison over-crowding
mass deportation and the Afrikaans solution to the race problem:-

*Mister Mc Dowell intends to instantly deport any immigrant convicted of a crime.
*He intends to issue immigrants with ID which will contain biometric data.

This would be, for those of us, with sisters, brothers and friends who are non-Irish
or parents of Irish children to resist.

The carrying of a biometric ID, is one step away from outright apartheid against
the immigrant community in Ireland.

Mr Mc Dowell can move these legislations through the Dail with amazing swiftness
and alacrity (witness the Criminal Law -Sexual offences- Bill 2006) which the Dail
is still dealing with in terms of the proposed constitutional referendum on age of consent
and the lack of gender neutrality embedded in the body of Section 5).

In the case of Overall Majority it is a question of a few amendments.

a few stages.
an Oireachtas 'debate'
a Seanad 'debate'
a Presidential seal (with or without the Council of State) and bob's your uncle,
another erosion of citizenship rights.

Making hay while the sun shines

Wed Sep 06, 2006 22:53

The triad presentation can be found at :-

http://www.justice.ie

'whats new- publications: September 6th 06.

" Scheme for an immigration, Residence and Protection Bill" (pdf download)

and the report is on www.ireland.com

other triad presentations include:- The PPP and other general election brandings.

The Musical Roads

by cleo

Wed Sep 27, 2006 13:28

Last evening I was called by by mother, who is not a scaredy cat ,to tell me
that there were Gardai all over the musical roads and that someone had been
shot. It turns out, that the 30 year old was shot dead. Mum is a bit scared
having raised three kids in the musical roads ( Bunting, Mc Cormack, etc)

The gardai say he was known to them, sure you cannot grow up in Walkinstown
without being known to the Gardai. A lot of them attended inquests for the
suicides of men known to them , or PM's to do with inhalation of various glues
down lonely laneways- but a shooting on the musical roads is different.

So she is a bit rattled. The musical roads were planted on the Shaw demesne
and have for local interest an 11th century church and Drimnagh Castle (suicide
spot/ storytelling and shagging spot).

The answer of the back to work minister will be to arm the Gardai, which no-one
wants and to send spiffing young men in suits to her door to exhort her to vote.
She decided not to take a camera and photograph the debacle. The connection
with crime and the musical roads is long, but a lot of the kids just thought
they were outlaws because there was nothing else to do. I am getting really
fucked off with the Department of Justice.

and a few more....

by 10,000 doorsteppers

Wed Sep 27, 2006 17:13

Residents from the Thornton Hall area were protesting outside the Dail today demanding action.
Spokeswoman said "The over-inflated price was the result of either corruption or
incompetence, and we want to know which"

Don't we all. They want an independent inquiry into why the site cost 13million ,
and why there was no mediator involved in the transaction.

There is some info regarding Thornton on the above thread. The Dept of Justice's
self-proclaimed watchdog of the corrupt FF's seem to be doing an excellent job of infecting
themselves.

Bertie climbed trees and Mc Dowell climbed lamposts.

next on the agenda the new children's hospital site at the Mater, the HSE and the ex-tanaiste.

The current Tanaiste being very busy observing Bertie's demise.

error

Wed Sep 27, 2006 19:12

The sale of lands at Thornton (panacea for all ills) was in fact 30million
not 13 million, as previously stated. The residents are demanding an inquiry
into the sale of the lands.

Mc Dowell's Response to the C and AG

by C Murray

Wed Sep 27, 2006 21:54

The C+AG had the temerity to criticise the procurment process for the New prison at Thornton
Hall today (http://www.ireland.com), in fact the procurement process should have had
a third party in that process.

Justice press-released a few hours ago;

"The use of a third party would not in our view have sufficent transparency
to provide necessary accountability, wouldn't have identified the best sites(!)
and could have led to grave differences with the vendor."

and
"an anonymous third party approach is neither appropriate nor practical
in the purchase of a site for the most significant prison development
in the history of the state"

The locals say that there is no infrastructure, the lands are zoned agricultural
and there is of course a listed building on the greenfield site.

The Dept paid 199,000 euros per acre, thats 30 million, the prisoners in the
Joy are still slopping out, three suicides were prevented in the last two weeks,
two suicides suceeded- Minister Mc Dowell has cut education and re-hab to the prisoners.
The prison officers say the best crowd control is the drugs.

The senior officials in the Dept of Justice will be attending the public accounts committee
in October to answer to the procurement process.

30 million Euros- thats 60 times Bertie's 'loan' for which we were media bombarded
for 24 hours- Bertie does not have to answer to the Dail, when he gets friday off and telly time.

Shoot them!

by Revolutionary

Wed Sep 27, 2006 22:03

Shoot the lot!

its just politics

by Chris Murray

Wed Sep 27, 2006 22:22

Mc Dowell is revelling in the weakened Taoiseach scenario, now he's Tanaiste.

Everything looks very pretty on paper-but the reality is Moyross, Walkinstown

and Drimnagh are full of kids left behind by the 'Tiger' and the Dept of Justice

Junkets. A man got killed near my mother's house last night. He was 'known' to the

Gardai, all the kids were known to the Gardai when I grew up- most of them

ended up dead, suicide, inhalants etc.

none of em were shot and as I said earlier its starting to piss me off. The field near

where the 3 0 year old got shot is called Mooney's Field. They played outlaws, had cider

parties - he was shot because of a girl- thats what the locals are saying.

The schools are deprived, the Castle which was the centre for storytelling and shagging is a PR

location and those that end up in the Joy are coming out in boxes.

He paid 30 million for a greenfield site that is suppoused to answer these questions

and the kids down at the JOy have no education and re-hab.

1 murder, 2 suicides, 3 foiled suicides, no conjugal rights.

The crime problem is caused by social exclusion and the State have fostered it for 9 years.

Lightening Strike at Silver hill

by c murray

Thu Nov 02, 2006 15:59

The Prison Officers have gone on strike at one of the State Prisons, due to safety concerns
over one prisoner.

The prison officer association are claiming that their concerns are unmet by the IPS.

Three shootings last night

Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:26

One was fatal- a postmaster.

The other two are reported as in a 'serious condition'.

The privacy bill has been 'shelved' in the run up to the election and the Gardai
are going softly, softly on Protestors in case it fucks with Noel Dempseys
Majority. The department have not commented on:

The Heroin Deaths.
The shooting incidents (which have frightened people who are unused to non-political murder)
The dropping of the Privacy bill.
The date of the Keena/Kennedy trial on Bertie-gate.
Brutality in Rossport.

*but we are assured that jeorg Gaider was not poisoned in Ireland and the
radiological institute has been all over Maynooth (testing)

*Three shootings last night- but Minister Mc Dowell is more concerned with breaking up
families and breaching human rights legislations/ conventions.

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Making Hay. The Dept of Justice on Hols.

Comments (16 of 16)