Over 800 prisoners were on waiting lists for addiction services at the end of last year, new figures show.
“The Irish Prison Service engages Merchants Quay Ireland to provide a prison-based addiction counselling service across the Irish Prison Service estate,” she explained. The longest list was in Wheatfield Prison, where 181 prisoners were awaiting help. This was followed by Mountjoy, where 176 people were on waiting lists.In the women’s-only prison Dochas, some 32 people were on a waiting list for addiction services at the end of last year.
“I took part in [the RTÉ documentary] Gaelic in the Joy and I was talking to the Governor [of Mountjoy Prision] when I was in there. The vast majority of prisoners are going in with some sort of addiction or mental health issue, or sometimes both.