See inside the hidden holding cells under the CCJ and our largest remand prison
The Irish Mirror gained unprecedented access to the massive holding cell area of Dublin's Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ) in Parkgate Street - and to Ireland's largest remand prison - Cloverhill, in an exclusive video podcast to be released today.
In the Shattered Lives podcast special, available on the Irish Mirror's YouTube channel today (Friday), three Governors of the Irish Prison Service also opened up about the reality of the committal process - bringing prisoners to and from the CCJ - and adjusting them to the realities of jail life. They also revealed to us the grim reality that weapons have been dropped into prisons via drone - and how 'tensions to this day' remain behind bars due to the Kinahan / Hutch feud.
Speaking to the Irish Mirror inside a hallway consisting of 21 holding cells situated right beneath the courts in Dublin, Paddy Moran Assistant Governor of Mountjoy Prison told us:
'As you can see as we're walking there's a number of different holding cells. This would mimic what would actually happen on a larger scale in an actual prison, where we have to keep the different prisoners from different factions separated. It might be to do with feuds or it could be to do with all sorts of things like debts, people who might have given information or might be perceived to have given information to the guard.
"We have to protect them while they're in custody and keep them separate from each other.' Paddy Moran and Paul Healy in one of the holding cells at the CCJ Holding cells at the CCJ
Paddy is a senior official in a prison that was at one stage entirely segregated due to the bitter rivalries of the Kinahan Hutch feud - which killed 18 men. He told us of the unique challenges of that time - and how many of those tensions haven't gone away behind bars.
'That caused significant headaches within the prison service because there were large numbers of different gangs around the country that were, you know, pledging their allegiances to different sides in that particular high-profile feud. Yes, the feud has simmered down publicly thank God, but there are still lingering issues within the prison system of different prisoners who have been involved in different situations that can't mix with each other,' he revealed.
'There's still tensions to this day. But there are other feuds going on around the country. Not as well publicised but oftentimes pretty dangerous deadly feuds as well.'
Inside Cloverhill Prison, which is home to over 400 prisoners awaiting trial or sentence, the Irish Mirror was granted access to many areas, including the A2 landing, where we saw inside a cell - where a TV, bunk beds and other facilities were visible.
We were shown the reception area, where a prisoner is brought in and comprehensively searched - as well as one of the yards - which is protected by netting that nonetheless can sometimes be breached by drones. We also saw the 'Circle' - a massive area in the very centre of the prison where most other areas of the jail are accessible. Kevin O'Connell, Governor of Cloverhill Prison speaking to Paul Healy in The Circle area of the prison Bridget Allen and Kevin O'Connell, Governor of Cloverhill Prison, speaking to Paul Healy on one of the landings
And in one shocking revelation to this paper, Cloverhill Prison Governor Kevin O'Connell revealed that prisoners have successfully managed to smuggle weapons into prison - after they were dropped into the yard via drone.
'Yes, I have seen it here myself. I have seen shivs, stanley blades and weapons and tools as well,' he told us. Kevin O'Connell, Governor of Cloverhill Prison, speaking to Paul Healy Cloverhill prison
'Prisoners will come up with ingenious ways of trying to conceal contraband and phones when they get into the prison. They'll hide it behind a light, a screen or whatever. In the round, the number of weapons used prisoner on prisoner has reduced greatly and that's been a positive piece and that's down to the de-escalation techniques and the work our staff do with our prisoners.'
The Governor revealed that he has seen Stanley blades, shivs, mobile phones and all manner of contraband snuck into the prison - often in very inventive ways. Speaking to us by the shower area where prisoners undress and are searched before being committed, he spoke to us of one occasion where a prisoner tried to sneak over 700 tablets inside by hanging them from his nether region. Cloverhill Prison landing
'One of our staff noticed a prisoner here at ten o'clock at night. He wasn't in a full state of undress, he had his bottom half covered. One of our staff noticed he had something concealed on his lower half… to his groin area. Upon closer inspection they uncovered a quantity of several hundred tablets on his person,' he revealed.
In the podcast, we also spoke to experienced Assistant Governor Bridget Allen of the Irish Prison Service Training College, which has sites in Portlaoise and Dublin. She speaks in depth on the podcast about training recruit prison officers and on highlighting the prisoner journey from the courthouse all the way to the prison.
Phil O'Meara, Assistant Governor with the Prison Service Escort Group (PSEC), also speaks on the podcast - showing us the 'dock' in Court 6 of the CCJ, and informing us how prison staff escort a prisoner to that area and remain offside but on constant standby for any event during the course of a trial. Cloverhill Prison cell Cloverhill Prison exercise yard with mesh covering
'The staff will escort the prisoner through this area here into the court as soon as his case is called. Staff will put themselves into a position where they are offside and won't prejudice the trial duration of the sitting,' he told us.
'The CCJ here is a very busy place as you can imagine here, Monday to Friday, and in the unfortunate event that something does happen, we have staff that we can call on straight away to assist if we have any disturbances."
Assistant Governor Bridget Allen added: 'All our staff would carry radios as well. We have up to 60-70 staff here (in the CCJ) on a daily basis. Every escort that comes into the court has a radio on them so it's very easy for us to call for help if needed. I suppose it's part of our training. We're trained how to deal with those situations,' she said.
Showing us inside a holding cell located directly below one of the courts, Assistant Governor Paddy Moran told of that stage of the process - where a newly-committed prisoner is beginning to adjust to their new reality.
'The first person that they're going to meet is a prison officer. We will be dealing with people that could be in crisis. They could be volatile, could be suicidal, could be stressed. Yes, they have committed a crime but we have to provide support to help them get their head around what has actually happened from there on in. I would treat any prisoner I meet the way I would want to be treated if I was in their shoes,' he said.
The Irish Prison Service is currently running a recruit prison officer competition and you can find out more by visiting Irishprisons.ie.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sunday World
2 hours ago
- Sunday World
Schoolteacher tried to reverse up slip road off Dublin's M50
Marta Burns (47) attempted took the slip road on to the M50, but then stopped and tried to reverse Marta Burns was disqualified from driving for two years and received a five-month sentence, suspended for two years A music teacher who tried to reverse up a slip road off Dublin's M50 claimed her car kept losing power and she was struggling to control it. Marta Burns (47) was followed from near Heuston Station by an off-duty garda, who rang 999 as he was so concerned about her driving. He told a court he feared the driver was either drunk or suffering a medical emergency. Judge David McHugh disqualified Burns from driving for two years and imposed a five-month sentence, suspended for two years. Marta Burns was disqualified from driving for two years and received a five-month sentence, suspended for two years News in 90 Seconds - Aug 7th The defendant, of Alderbrook Downs, Ashbourne, Co Meath, was found guilty of dangerous driving and careless driving on March 12, 2019. An allegation of failing to provide a breath sample to gardaí was dismissed, after a dentist gave evidence that Burns had narrowed airways and was at risk of obstructive breathing disorder, which would have impacted on her ability to blow into a breathalyser. Sergeant Stephen Bolger told Blanchardstown District Court he was in traffic on Victoria Quay around 10pm when a car tried to come in front of him. He let the car in, to avoid a collision, and followed it up Parkgate Street, where it was swerving to the right. The car passed the Criminal Courts of Justice, and went up Chesterfield Avenue, where it was serving to the left. Near Dublin Zoo, the car narrowly missed a parked vehicle. Sgt Bolger said the car was veering to the left, with the wheels going on to the grass verge, and then veering to the right, narrowly missing oncoming traffic. On Auburn Avenue, Sgt Bolger said, the car accelerated and overtook into oncoming traffic, narrowly avoiding a collision, and turned left towards the Blanchardstown Interchange on the M50, where it again narrowly avoided colliding with a car on the inside lane. The driver took the slip road on to the M50, but then stopped and tried to reverse, Sgt Bolger said. The vehicle stopped due to other traffic, and then accelerated on to the M50. In cross-examination, Sgt Bolger said he did not believe the vehicle's speed was excessive, but rather the car was swerving on the road. Garda Eimear Hamill said Burns appeared agitated at the scene, and later failed to provide a breath sample. Instead, she was 'singing very loudly'. In her evidence, Burns claimed she was breathing deeply through her stomach in an effort to blow into the machine, and she would have provided a blood or urine sample to gardaí if they had asked her to provide one. She said she had car trouble a few weeks before this incident and had taken the car to a mechanic, who said he had fixed it. On the day, the car started to lose power, she could not control it and she was just trying to get home. Finding Burns guilty of dangerous driving, Judge McHugh said her driving was 'appalling in the extreme'. The court heard Burns, a mother of one, was originally from Poland and worked as a singer and music teacher.
Irish Daily Mirror
5 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Garda accused of paying criminal to attack female officer's home learns fate
No charges are to be brought against a Garda who was alleged to have paid a criminal to throw a brick through the window of a female officer's home. The Irish Mirror has learned that an investigation by Fiosru (Formerly GSOC) into the officer, who was suspended from duty in 2022, resulted in a file being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) - which has now ruled no charges are to be brought against him. The decision means a near three year external investigation into the officer has resulted in no prosecution- and the garda may be able to return to his duties soon. He is however understood to still be subject to an internal disciplinary process and remains suspended from the force at this time. The Garda had been subject to an investigation by the Garda Anti Corruption task force when the revelations first became known and were reported by this paper in early 2023. Asked for comment about the development, the Garda press office stated 'This is not a matter for An Garda Síochána at this time. You would be best placed to contact Fiosrú in relation to your query.' A spokesperson for Fiosru meanwhile told us: 'Fiosrú cannot make a comment at this time.' Meanwhile the female officer who was the alleged target of the brick attack remains suspended and has been under investigation herself for alleged harassment. It is understood that officers expect there to be charges in this case. She was alleged to have accessed the force's internal computer system to change her love rivals phone number - and then send her abusive messages and voicemails. It was also alleged that she tried to enter the couple's house to confront her rival - but was only scared away when the woman started recording the Garda on her mobile phone. We previously reported that the alleged brick attack saw the attacker driven to and picked up from the scene by an innocent taxi driver. The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week Officers had tracked down the taxi driver who confirmed he'd been asked to bring a man to the estate where the female officer was residing. He also told gardai that the man in the taxi asked him to wait at the scene and he came back a few minutes later before telling him to drive off. Detectives quickly established that the fare was a low-level criminal and small-time drug dealer from the same town - and he was then arrested on suspicion of attacking the officer's house. He was held at the local Garda station – and initially refused to make any comment. But detectives then raided his house and found a secret phone, with voice notes still on it. One of the messages, sources told us at the time, warned the criminal that he had been identified as the main suspect for the attack on the female officer's home. It's understood the voice note told the criminal to get out of his house before he could be arrested. The criminal was later confronted with the voice notes and claimed to detectives he was paid €300 by the officer to attack the female garda's home. Garda bosses in the station immediately called in the force's Dublin-based Anti-Corruption Unit – who specialise in hunting down allegations of wrongdoing by serving officers. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
The Irish Sun
18 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Brit drug mule mum, 21, dodges jail after being caught smuggling 45lbs of cannabis from Bangkok to Germany
The mum worked as an escort for a man in the UK who had threatened her, the court heard MUM'S DRUG HELL Brit drug mule mum, 21, dodges jail after being caught smuggling 45lbs of cannabis from Bangkok to Germany A DRUG-smuggling Brit mum has dodged jail after being caught bundling a huge stash of cannabis from Thailand into Germany. Cameron Bradford, 21, from Knebworth, Herts, was found guilty of drugs trafficking and handed a two-year-suspended sentence today. Advertisement 5 Cameron Bradford was detained at Munich Airport on April 21 as she tried to collect her luggage 5 The 21-year-old mum has been accused of allegedly smuggling cannabis in her bags 5 Munich District Court heard how Cameron had worked as an escort for a man in the UK who threatened her into going to Thailand to pick something up for him. The young mum was arrested at Munich Airport on April 22 as she attempted to collect her luggage. Authorities became suspicious when she changed her flight to London Heathrow via Singapore at the last minute - flying to Munich instead. Munich customs officials pulled her aside and found 45lb (about 20kg) of marijuana in her suitcase. Advertisement Cameron claimed she had no idea about the illegal contents of her luggage, which was locked. Judge Wilfried Dudek said that Cameron had had a difficult life. He said she had been through an early pregnancy and fallen in with the wrong crowd. The judge said he found it strange that Cameron had not known what was in the suitcase, but agreed she had been pressured by the man. Advertisement When Cameron didn't return home on her Heathrow bound flight as expected, her family filed a missing persons report. By the next day, they had found out that she had been arrested in Germany. Brit drug mules jailed for 6 YEARS after being found with 150lbs of cannabis In 2024, Germany legalised cannabis for recreational use by adults aged 18 and over. But the unauthorised import of cannabis, even for personal use, is strictly illegal and carries a hefty sentence of up to five years in prison. Advertisement There has been an explosion in the number of young Brits arrested around the world on drugs trafficking charges. Cameron's punishment is considerably more lenient than two other young Brit smugglers who learned their fate yesterday. 5 The judge said that Cameron's life had not gone well 5 The pair were convicted of drugs smuggling and sentenced to six years in prison each Credit: You Tube/ZimpapersDigital Advertisement A pair - Tihaise Darlin Elisha, 19, and Taylor Tamara Simone, 21 - were jailed for six years each in Zimbabwe after being caught with nearly 70kg of cannabis - again from Thailand. Security officers at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare noticed the pair acting suspiciously on May 1, so yanked them aside. A search of their luggage found that four Monarch suitcases were completely stuffed with weed. Police found 53 packets containing a total of 66kg of loose skunky cannabis, known locally as "dagga". Advertisement Three months later, the pair were found guilty of drugs trafficking by the Harare Magistrates' Court, according to Zimbabwe's national prosecutor.
