Irish prisons have no addiction nurses

49.442 - 67.333 Saoirse Brady

The other part of it is that 3 out of 4 people are going to prison for a year or less, so they're not actually getting to the top of the waiting list to get assessed regularly. for what treatment they might need before they're out again. And then there's that discontinuity between prison and community. So if you don't get the help that you need in prison, you're back out in the community.

67.353 - 77.676 Saoirse Brady

You don't get the help that you need there. So the likelihood is that you end up back in prison. And it's that revolving door that we're just not getting to the bottom of. And part of this is around what supports are available in prison.

78.297 - 84.744 Ciara Doherty

And when we talk about addiction, we are talking about addiction to alcohol, to prescription drugs, to illegal drugs.

85.305 - 107.13 Saoirse Brady

To everything. But I suppose what we do know is that people from marginalised communities are overrepresented in prison. And very often the drugs that they are taking are things like crack cocaine, they're opioids, and those are very serious. We also know that there's a lot of synthetic opioids, which have really... powerful consequences for people.

107.171 - 123.558 Saoirse Brady

They really interact and interfere with people's health to the point where we've seen a number of overdoses in prison itself. So we really need to be treating that. We really need to think about who is providing that physical support so we know that there are supports in prison. certainly in terms of therapy.

208.943 - 221.922 Ciara Doherty

So what actually happens now then if a prisoner is remanded? They're in Mount Joy, for example. They come in, it is very obvious, so they are told that this person has an addiction to an opioid. What's the process for them?

221.942 - 237.664 Saoirse Brady

Well, you have to go in and you have to get assessed, you know, so you'll have a medical assessment in the first place. By a doctor, is it, within the prison service? So a nurse or a doctor, yeah, on admission to prison. But then I suppose part of the thing is then where do you refer them on to?

238.004 - 258.53 Saoirse Brady

And very often people don't pick up, like there's so many people coming into our prisons, like they mightn't pick up, you know, an underlying addiction if it's not very obvious, if the person isn't intoxicated at the time. So, you know, you have to build up trust with people as well. in order for them to admit that they have an addiction, for them to want to maybe deal with that addiction.

258.971 - 276.29 Saoirse Brady

And you need to give them the physical supports to do that. So I suppose that's a process. Yeah. Yes, it is. But Merchants Quay Ireland provide really good therapeutic supports in prison right across the prison estate. We know that there is like 19 therapists at the moment, but they have a very long, very big caseload and a very long waiting list.

276.71 - 297.644 Saoirse Brady

So, you know, and that's dealing with like that's talk therapy. We're talking about some of the physical issues that people present with, you know, if they're in DTs, if they're detoxing, if they, you know, that can have a huge impact on their mental health as well. So we really feel that, you know, this government is focused so much on the infrastructure and pouring money into that.

439.642 - 454.663 Ciara Doherty

I mean, there were addiction nurses present in prisons and it doesn't appear to be a real clear policy change. It seems to be that some of these nurses moved on, moved elsewhere, were redeployed and then the positions just weren't filled.

454.643 - 469.868 Saoirse Brady

Yeah, they haven't been replaced. That's our understanding of it. And, you know, there is a reliance on, you know, some of the therapeutic supports, which I mentioned. And, you know, those are great where they exist and where they can actually cope with the numbers that are coming to them.

469.848 - 488.406 Saoirse Brady

But for example, Merchantsky Ireland were in the Oireachtas Committee on Justice earlier this year, and they talked about their addiction counsellors having a caseload of 30. You know, 30 people with a lot of trauma, with addiction issues, with, you know, a lot of things to unpick. That's a lot of people to have to deal with. So we need more support for addiction counsellors.

488.466 - 498.936 Saoirse Brady

We need addiction nurses to actually deal with some of those issues that we are seeing in terms of the physicality of people coming into prison. And again, I'll reiterate, we need fewer people in prison.

499.516 - 520.436 Ciara Doherty

Well, it's interesting. We have another text coming in here. We need Osimham House, Mount John Square. I don't know if you're familiar with that. We need these type of classes in the city centre to help with addiction prevention. The courses include piano, guitar, tai chi, sewing, etc. All at low cost. People need to learn ways to relax and to mix. They use the rooms and the GPO for the classes.