Our man Mick McCaffrey checks out the facilities at Wheatfield Prison
Mick McCaffrey browses through the extensive prison library
A full-size astro turf pitch, well-stocked library, tuck-shop, floral gardens and pet pigs are some of the facilities that make Wheatfield the flagship prison in the country and a sought-after jail for inmates to serve their sentences.
The west Dublin prison celebrated its 25th birthday last month and was the first jail built by an Irish government.
Its ethos was that prisoners should have every chance to better themselves behind bars and a visit to view the facilities buries every preconception you could have about what it’s like in prison.
The 500 prisoners housed at Wheatfield are treated like adults by the two men in charge, Governor Colm Barclay and Chief Officer Jimmy Kelly.
As we tour the jail, the pair are regularly stopped by inmates for a chat or to thank them for the temporary release they got to go to a family funeral. The two men seem to know the names of each prisoner and run a tough but fair regime.
Barclay says: “This is a transfer prison so people have to apply to come here. We try to give everybody the opportunity to learn and prosper while they are with us, and prisoners mostly embrace it. There is a good atmosphere among the staff and prisoners.”
The most popular activity among inmates is the astro pitch that is used every day by both staff and prisoners. It is similar to the hundreds of pitches that are rented around the country each night by amateur footballers.
Barclay says: “The prisoners love it and it’s a fantastic facility to have. They are keen on football but tag rugby is getting bigger here as well with staff and prisoners.
”Shamrock Rovers come in and do a soccer academy with us and train the lads. It’s really good for them. A lot of FAI coaching courses have taken place here as well and we have a good relationship with them. We have a prison soccer team. Teams from other prisons have come here to play against them. We’ve had a lot of prisoners over the years who had got into trouble but left and went on to play football at a very high level.”
Once a prisoner is locked up for the night, they are able to look at their own personal television, as is standard in all jails, but many cells in Wheatfield are ‘E-Learning’ cells.
They have their own computers which can access the prison intranet but not the internet.
Barclay says: “It allows them to access courses in their cells such as Open University courses. It means that when they are on lock-down they can still make good use of their time. It is going down well with the prisoners”.