Mountjoy Prison (), founded as Mountjoy Gaol and nicknamed The Joy, is a medium security men's prison located in Phibsborough in the centre of

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The current prison Governor is Ray Murtagh.

History

Mountjoy was designed by Captain Joshua Jebb of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

and opened in 1850. It was based on the design of London's Pentonville Prison also designed by Jebb. Originally intended as the first stop for men sentenced to

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

, they would spend a period in separate confinement before being transferred to Spike Island and transported from there to

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania during the European exploration of Australia, European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The Aboriginal Tasmanians, Aboriginal-inhabited island wa ...

. A total of 46 prisoners (including one woman, Annie Walsh) were executed within the walls of the prison, prior to the abolition of capital punishment. Executions were carried out by

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

and firing squads, after which the bodies of the dead were taken down from the

gallows A gallows (or less precisely scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sa ...

and buried within the prison grounds in unmarked graves. The list of

Irish republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

prisoners executed at Mountjoy Prison includes: * Kevin Barry * Patrick Moran * Frank Flood * Thomas Whelan * Thomas Traynor *

Patrick Doyle Patrick Doyle (born 6 April 1953) is a Scottish composer and occasional actor best known for his film scores. During his 50-year career in film, television and theatre, he has composed the scores for over 60 feature films. A longtime collaborato ...

* Thomas Bryan * Bernard Ryan * Edmond Foley * Patrick Maher * Rory O'Connor * Joe McKelvey *

Liam Mellows William Joseph Mellows (, 25 May 1892 – 8 December 1922) was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician. Born in England to an English father and Irish mother, he grew up in Ashton-under-Lyne before moving to Ireland, ...

* Richard Barrett * Thomas Harte * Patrick McGrath * Maurice O'Neill * Charlie Kerins In addition, Annie Walsh from Limerick, who was found guilty of murdering her husband, was executed in Mountjoy prison on 5 August 1925. She remains the only woman ever executed by the Irish State after its founding in 1922. On 13 October 1923, Irish Republican prisoners in Mountjoy Prison began the 1923 Irish Hunger Strikes, protesting being interned without charges or trial and poor prison conditions. Close to 500 men began the hunger strike in Mountjoy and the strike quickly spread to other camps and prisons with over 5,000 prisoners taking part nationwide. Andy O'Sullivan, from County Cavan, died on

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

on 23 November 1923 in Mountjoy Prison. After being convicted of murdering a Garda officer, Charlie Kerins, former Chief of Staff to the Anti-Treaty IRA, was hanged at Mountjoy Prison on 1 December 1944. The last execution carried out in the Republic of Ireland, that of Michael Manning, took place in Mountjoy Prison on 20 April 1954. Some Irish leaders involved with the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

and

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War (; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Emp ...

were held there. On 14 May 1921, an IRA team led by Paddy Daly and Emmet Dalton mounted an attempt to rescue Sean McEoin from the prison. They used a captured armoured car to gain access to Mountjoy, but were discovered and had to shoot their way out. The Fenian poet, author of the popular song "Rising of the Moon", John Keegan 'Leo' Casey was imprisoned here during the 1860s; subsequently in the 20th century, playwright and IRA activist

Brendan Behan Brendan Francis Aidan Behan (christened Francis Behan) ( ; ; 9 February 1923 – 20 March 1964) was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and Irish Republican, an activist who wrote in both English and Irish. His widely ackno ...

was also gaoled within. On 31 October 1973, it was the scene of a spectacular escape by a hijacked helicopter by three

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...

prisoners, Kevin Mallon, Seamus Twomey and Joe B. O'Hagan. By 2006, a 60-hectare site had been acquired for €30 million at Thornton Hall,

Fingal Fingal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which ...

, where a replacement for Mountjoy was to be constructed. The new facility was intended to accommodate 1,400 prisoners. The site was planned to include court facilities, video-conference links, medical and therapeutic facilities, but due to government cutbacks these plans have now been sidelined.

Incidents

In August 2006, prisoners who were normally separated from the rest of the population for safety were mixed together for a night with mentally ill inmate Stephen Egan. Prisoner Gary Douche was killed by Egan who was found not guilty of murder due to a lack of responsibility. This prompted the Minister of Justice to seek a limit of 520 inmates on the capacity of the prison. In October 2010, the prison was placed under lockdown after a night of violence and rioting involving more than 70 inmates. It started when a number of prisoners attacked three prison officers with pool cues and balls during recreation. Reinforcements were brought in from around Dublin to quell the riot and a number of Alsatians dogs from the riot unit were also deployed. In 2016, figures were released showing that Mountjoy Prison saw a disproportionate number of prisoners hospitalised due to assaults and self-harm. In response, the Irish Penal Reform Trust said the "ongoing levels of violence and intimidation in Irish prisons, particularly in Mountjoy Prison, must be addressed".

Composition

Main Prison

Mountjoy Prison is constructed along a radial design with four main wings, A through D, each of which has three landings, as well as an underground basement landing. The wings are connected to a central circle, known simply as 'the circle'. When originally built in 1850 it had 500 cells each of which was designed for single capacity. Many parts of the original building have either been renovated or destroyed. At the time of the 2009 inspection, there were 371 cells in the main unit of the prison. These are the original cells which were built in 1850 for single occupancy. Their size varies from 3.91 m × 2.06 m to 3.43 m × 2.06 m. The prison was built with in-cell sanitation but this was removed in 1939 when it was deemed that 'prisoners were using too much water'. However, all cells in the main jail have in-cell sanitation following refurbishment in the period 2010 to 2015. These cells contain a toilet, a sink, a television and a small kettle. Facilities in the prison include gymnasiums, computer classes, carpentry, masonry and a wide variety of school activities such as music, drama and cookery. Prisoners can undertake to complete academic exams in school such as Junior Certificate, Leaving Certificate and even Open University. Additionally, there is an on-site kitchen and bakery where trusted inmates are given employment under supervision.

Medical Unit

The Medical Unit, otherwise referred to as the drug detoxification unit, is a three-storied structure. It provides accommodation for sixty prisoners in forty-eight single-person cells and three cells that can accommodate up to four people. All the cells in this unit have in-cell sanitation facilities. It is equipped with medical facilities, classrooms and kitchen facilities. The Inspector of Prisons reported in 2009 that this unit was bright and clean and did not suffer from overcrowding.

Controlled Behavioural Unit

The Controlled Behavioural Unit, known as the CBU or the Block, is used for unruly prisoners or those on punishment and is located in the 'C' Base, underneath the C wing. This includes 24-hour lock-up, with the exception of one hour of open-air exercise, and no integration with other inmates.

Separation Unit

The Separation Unit had 35 cells. It also had kitchen facilities a shower block and a laundry. In the late 1980s, inmates diagnosed with HIV or AIDS were housed in the separation unit. This policy was brought to an end on 1 January 1995. Following the unit's refurbishment in 1997, all cells had in-cell sanitation. The separation unit was closed indefinitely in 2014 following an inspection by the Inspector of Prisons.

Mountjoy Campus

The Mountjoy Campus is home to three other separate penal facilities. * Dóchas Centre * St. Patrick's Institution * Training Unit

People associated with Mountjoy

A former governor was Charles Arthur Munro, brother of the Edwardian satirist

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), popularly known by his pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirise Edwardian society and ...

.Introduction of ''The Unbearable Saki'' by Sandie Byrne, Oxford University Press, 2007. p 24. The schizophrenic French surrealist playwright

Antonin Artaud Antoine Maria Joseph Paul Artaud (; ; 4September 18964March 1948), better known as Antonin Artaud, was a French artist who worked across a variety of media. He is best known for his writings, as well as his work in the theatre and cinema. Widely ...

was briefly detained in Mountjoy before his deportation from Ireland as "a destitute and undesirable alien". Thomas Ashe was also a former inmate of the jail for his involvement in the Easter Rising 1916. After a protest of starvation, he was transferred across the street to the Mater Misericordiae Hospital on 25 September 1916 where he died a few hours after arrival. Peadar O'Donnell, IRA Commander of the 2nd Northern Division, was imprisoned in Mountjoy Gaol and the Curragh. Following the end of the Irish Civil War, he participated in the mass republican hunger strike (1923 Irish Hunger Strikes), remaining on hunger strike for 41 days. O'Donnell's prison experience and eventual escape in March 1924 are described in his 1932 memoir ''The Gates Flew Open''.

In popular culture

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 198 ...

's 2014 album '' World Peace Is None of Your Business'' by includes a song called ''Mountjoy'' about the prison.

References

External links

Mountjoy Prison

Minister announces site for new Mountjoy complex
— from the official Irish Prison Service website
Inspector-General of Prisons and Places of Detention, 3rd Annual Report – 2005

Mountjoy Prison Visiting Committee 2004 Annual Report

Mountjoy Prison Portraits of Irish Independence: Photograph Albums in the Thomas A. Larcom Collection
{{Authority control Execution sites 1850 establishments in Ireland Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) Prisons in the Republic of Ireland