Rich white collar criminals still get special treatment, even in prison!...

national | crime and justice | other press

Tuesday July 24, 2012 23:52

by lefty

Fintan O'toole penned a rather interesting piece in the times regarding the privileged treatment of Sean Quinn who was imprisoned for contempt for 3 months. However evidently prison has a slightly different meaning for Mr Quinn and his ilk compared to the rest of us...plus ca change!

Up yours taxpayers. I'll still be living the high life, even when I eventually go to prison!

Quote:
"The Training Unit has single bedrooms rather than cells. There are no steel bars on the windows. Prisoners have their own keys to their rooms and are free to move around the building. They’re also free to lock themselves into their rooms, giving them the immense privilege of privacy. There is a good library. The unit is drug-free. Medical care is far better than in the general system and levels of violence between prisoners are very low.

In 2005, the inspectorate, which is often harshly critical of conditions in the system, called the unit “a very good service to prisoners . . . those of them who wish to partake in work training, education or whatever line they wish to follow are encouraged, supported and helped all the way”. Conditions have deteriorated somewhat since then because of overcrowding and staff reductions, but the unit is still the Ritz of the prison world.

So why does Seán Quinn get to serve his time there? The official description of the purpose of the unit runs as follows: “The main focus of the Training Unit is to provide industrial training and education to prisoners, assisting them in securing employment on release . . . The majority of the prisoners have served a greater part of the sentence in other prisons and then transferred as part of a planned sentence programme.” The unit also has a secondary purpose – as a safe place for prisoners with a history of substance abuse who are completing a detox programme.

What the unit is emphatically not supposed to be for is prisoners serving short sentences. The 2005 prison inspectorate report (the only one I can find that gives a detailed breakdown of the nature of the inmates) shows that of the 96 prisoners then in the unit, none was serving a sentence of less than six months and just one was serving a sentence of less than a year. By contrast, 58 were serving sentences of four years to life. It is quite clear the primary function of the unit is to act as a bridge back into society for long-term prisoners.

Seán Quinn is not serving a long sentence – he’s in for three months. He’s not recovering from substance abuse. He is not in need of training: he’s a very well educated businessman. There is nothing to suggest he was assessed in Mountjoy and deemed to be especially in need of the specific and highly privileged facilities of the Training Unit: he was in Mountjoy for one night.

But because Quinn is there, someone else isn’t. Statistically, that anonymous someone is probably badly educated, from a poor urban background and caught up in drugs. The unit houses just 117 inmates – a tiny fraction of the 4,000-plus male prison population. Almost every one of those 4,000 men wants to be where Quinn is, and many of them are on the waiting list to get in. But they’re from the wrong class and they committed the wrong sort of offence. Even in prison, there are two Irelands and two kinds of crime."

full article here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0724/1....html

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Comments (4 of 4)

Seanie gets the cuffs for a while. But at worst no doubt a short spell in the holiday camp awaits him too

Wed Jul 25, 2012 00:20

Fitzpatrick gets the cuffs for a while, but is released on a bail of 1000euro and allowed to retain his passport.

Getting this into perspective, Anglo has cost the state at least 30 billion. Probably more.

The maximum penalty for the fraud offences is up to five years in jail per offence and a maximum fine of €3,174.

Fair Punishment my ass!! Their own dorm room with internet access, rent free with free food for a few years at a cost of thousands per week to the state. Meanwhile austerity policy victims partly as a result of the Anglo debts and interest payments are thrown out on the street because rent allowance is cut, and they can't afford their food bills.

The selfish greedy behaviour of these men will inevitably result in the deaths of people due to large cuts in the health service. Pathetic!!

And, Yeah right, like even that rather cushy prison sentence will happen!! It's much more likely that many of the charges will be thrown out on technicalities and legal chicanery. Then all remaining sentences will be served concurrently and reduced to maybe three with "good" behaviour. With a pile of money waiting when he gets out. If any of us normal people worked solidly for 3 years we wouldn't even save the interest on seanie's ill gotten money. Evidently crime pays!!

Quote:
"Michael Staines, for Mr FitzPatrick, told the court that once his client learned gardaí were seeking him, he contacted his solicitor and organised to meet them this morning.

Mr FitzPatrick did not speak during the eight minute hearing. He sat with his arms folded wearing a navy jacket, blue shirt, pink tie and cream chino trousers.

There was no objection to bail. Judge Cormac Dunne granted bail of €1,000 and an independent surety of €10,000, which was provided by Mr FitzPatrick's sister, Joyce O'Connor.

Mr FitzPatrick was ordered to sign on every Wednesday at Irishtown Garda station and to give gardaí 48 hours' notice if he plans to leave the State or change address.

He is due in court again on October 8th, when he will be served with a book of evidence."

full story here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0724/....html

Some of his partners in crime were also arrested:

Quote:
"Mr Whelan (50), of “Rachra”, Coast Road, Malahide, was also remanded on bail on his own €1,000 bond and €10,000 surety.

Defence solicitor Michael Staines said gardaí had accepted he was not a “flight risk” and were not looking for his passport. He agreed to sign on once a week at his local Garda station in Malahide.

The court was asked whether he could sign on every Sunday, as he was “over and back” to London where he works during the week. He must give 48 hours’ notice if he travels outside the State, except to the UK.

The two accused will appear in court again on October 8th when books of evidence will be presented and the court moves towards setting a date for a trial before a judge and jury in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Meanwhile, the High Court was told today it is expected to take three years to complete the criminal trials of those charged in relation to the 2008 collapse of the former Anglo Irish Bank."

Full story here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0724/....html

**Personally I wouldn't be surprised if a deal was done between these men and FG to placate the great unwashed, while letting them out the back door with a short spell in a holiday camp and with many of their assets awaiting them abroad afterwards without fear of being pursued further by the Irish state.

No such thing as a prison 'holiday camp'

by prisoner supporter

Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:42

@lefty...i think you should perhaps avoid the use of terms like 'holiday camp' these terms generally come from people who have zero experience of prison and who think that prisoners should be wearing orange jump suits and carrying out manual labour for a pittance...

seanie and the quinns are capitalist scum no doubt..but do not try say any prison environment in this country is a holiday camp.

whats available in the training unit should be available elsewhere to all prisoners

Holiday Camp~

by Damien M - PW

Fri Aug 03, 2012 12:27

"but do not try say any prison environment in this country is a holiday camp."

I know, it's terrible that prisoners only get one PlayStation game a week.

"whats available in the training unit should be available elsewhere to all prisoners"

Absolutely, the best of courses and education for these lovable rogues. Never mind that if I wanna do a course I gotta pay for it, after I subtract income tax, then pay VAT on the course and other expenses.

@prisoner supporter

Fri Aug 03, 2012 12:55

"seanie and the quinns are capitalist scum no doubt..but do not try say any prison environment in this country is a holiday camp. Whats available in the training unit should be available elsewhere to all prisoners"

Normal prison environment in Ireland is certainly not a holiday camp. However conditions in the training camp are much much better. But the likes of Seanie Fitz will not get the true prison experience. That's reserved for the poor desperate drug addict or petty criminal without political connections.

The article was merely trying to highlight the fact that the likes of seanie fitz etc get special treatment even when sent to prison. And it's usually at the expense of some poor unfortunate who is on a waiting list and needs a place in the training unit a lot more than the likes of scum like Seanie Fitz.

Irish prisons are violent smelly drug filled hell holes in general I agree.

There was a good account of prison life in this previous article by Niall Harnett (S2S):
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/101343

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Rich white collar criminals still get special treatment, even in prison!...

Comments (4 of 4)