INSIDE LOUGHAN HOUSE: A path to ‘better choices in life’

This is the first in a series on Loughan House Open Prison in Blacklion. Reporter Róisín McManus takes a walk around the grounds and speaks to some of the facility’s inmates, as well as the wider community, on the role Loughan House plays in the wider prison and rehabilitation system and its place in the community going back to the 1970s...

Tucked away on the outskirts of Blacklion and nestled behind a host of trees and shrubbery, Loughan House looks out over the picturesque Lough MacNean in west Cavan.

Driving in through the gates is an almost surreal experience as you enter freely without being stopped and pass groups of prisoners moving around the grounds.

Across from the carpark, the coffee shop serves as the central hub of activity for prisoners and members of the public alike.

It is a dull, mostly dry day in the middle of June when The Anglo-Celt visits the open prison facility, one of only two in Ireland.

Some prisoners are sitting outside chatting amongst the distant hum of fellow inmates watering plants in the adjacent polytunnels, where people can go to buy flowers.

Inside, one of the prisoners, who has completed barista training while serving his sentence, makes coffee in biodegradable cups.

“We feel like we’re part of the community here and that we offer a service to the community,” explains Assistant Governor Johnny Higgins.

“When we opened the coffee shop, back a number of years ago, there was no other coffee shop in the area, so we’re providing a service,” he continues, adding that the polytunnel similarly provides produce to the public while benefitting prisoners.

“The locals enjoy it, they get good produce at a fair price, it keeps our men busy but also there’s interaction there and it reduces the stigma of being in prison because there’s people coming in here,” said Mr Higgins.

HISTORY

Loughan House is a low security prison for males aged 18 and above, with a total capacity of 153 prisoners.

It was originally built in the 1950s as a novitiate for the White Fathers missionary, and was converted to Loughan House when the Department of Justice purchased it in 1972.

Typically, anyone who is sent to Loughan House to serve out the remainder of their sentence, has engaged well with the system in any of the 10 closed prisons, where all prisoners are initially committed.

CAPACITY

Nationally, there are a total of 274 available places in open prisons. Wicklow’s Shelton Abbey - the only other open prison in Ireland - takes up to 121 male prisoners aged 19 years and older. There are also two closed female prisons, there are no open prisons for women.

On the day of the visit [Thursday, June 18], there were 140 people in custody in Loughan House. The centre was operating at 99% capacity, in stark contrast to the national average of 124%. Similarly, Shelton Abbey was operating at around 98%. There were 5,907 people in custody across the Irish prison estate but there are only 4,767 available beds.

Closed prisons, such as Castlerea Prison, the committal prison for remand and sentenced prisoners from County Cavan, and the Midlands prison in Portlaoise; the committal prison for County Monaghan, are facing a significant overcrowding crisis with some prisoners having to sleep on mattresses on the floor.

That day, Castlerea Prison was operating at 122%; while the Midlands prison was operating at 129%.

The District Court Judge for Cavan and Monaghan, Raymond Finnegan, has repeatedly expressed his frustration around the "revolving door" system in these facilities that, in some cases, results in convicts being released just hours or days after they have been jailed as there is simply no space for them. There are reported examples of some of these people going on to commit further offences in the days and weeks following their release at a time when they were supposed to be incarcerated.

“We’re lucky we don’t get overcrowded here,” Mr Higgins says in relation to Loughan House, adding that it is likewise appreciated by the prison population.

“We have to believe in the system that we’re getting the best prisoner from all those other prisons to fill the 274 beds that are available between ourselves and Shelton Abbey, and that those prisoners are the top - the lads who engaged well and deserve opportunities - and that, if we give them those opportunities, that we can actually turn their lives around and reduce the rate of them coming back to prison,” Mr Higgins explains.

REHABILITATION

There is a big focus on the rehabilitation of prisoners in Loughan House, and on preparing them to return to society by teaching them new life skills and encouraging them to take up employment while in custody.

“We’d like to think that they’re going out of here as a more rounded person and they’re ready to be released,” Mr Higgins says.

Opposite the coffee shop, the vast education unit is like a secondary school, complete with its own woodwork room, music room and art room among other general purpose rooms.

Prisoners can follow City and Guilds programmes, for example in laundry, and can complete QQI courses including Spanish, cookery and customer service. There is also a certificate in parenting available and prisoners can complete the driver theory test and HGV learner permit course.

“We get men from all different types of educational backgrounds here,” says Head Teacher Angela Dennehy.

“We could have somebody who wants help with their reading and writing up to somebody who might be doing a masters degree with the Open University,” she explains, highlighting the importance of allocating achievable tasks.

“We’ll get them to make something, and we hope that will give them a sense of achievement that will improve their self esteem and, in turn, will lead to better life choices in the future.

“A lot of the men would had have a negative experience in school,” Mrs Dennehy explains.

“They might have been early school leavers, they may not have gotten the same opportunities to go to school, so it’s great for them to be able to overcome that fear of school and come back and have a second chance at education.”

Prisoners, she finds, are “delighted” to take part in courses, which are a “huge benefit” as they can help add structure to their day and will hopefully give them a “taste for lifelong learning".

Through classes such as arts and crafts, prisoners can make toys for their children, which can help keep them connected to their families. In a similar way, cooking classes are centred around teaching skills that they can use to help out at home when released.

Once they finish their sentence, the unit can also refer former inmates to their local ETB to pursue adult education courses in their area.

Recalling a former prisoner who had completed a learner permit course while serving time there, Mrs Dennehy says it gave her “such a sense of pride” to see him doing well recently after he stopped in to visit them while on route to Sligo in his lorry.

Teachers in Loughan House are employed by the Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board (CMETB), with support from the Irish Prison Service. There is currently a “great team” of 10 “absolutely fantastic” teachers there who can adapt their courses to suit prisoner's needs.

Mrs Dennehy has been working in Loughan House for the past seven years. Prior to that, she was a teacher in Castlerea Prison for 14 years.

The move from a closed prison to an open prison, she remembers, was a “huge change.”

“In the closed jail, there would be a lot more challenges for the men; even just getting to school,” she says.

“Here, there’s so much more physical freedom, it’s completely up to the men when they want to come over to school.

“There’s a lot more flexibility here in the way we can deliver courses.”

TEACHING PATIENCE

Templeport man Thomas Doonan was a woodwork teacher in Loughan House for almost forty years.

Having first started working there in 1983, he had to take early retirement in 2022 after he was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease in October 2020.

“I intended to be still working at this stage but that’s the way the cookie crumbled,” Mr Doonan says.

He joined Loughan House as a woodwork and building construction teacher after completing the first four year teaching degree course in woodwork in Limerick, at a time when there was a huge demand for such teachers.

Having played county at minor and U21 level, the role was a natural fit for the “football mad” graduate as there was a football ‘inter firms’ team there, and it wasn’t too far from home in comparison to other job offers in Monaghan, Galway and Dublin.

“Sure it couldn’t be better,” Mr Doonan enthuses.

Speaking to the Celt following the visit to Loughan House, Mr Doonan says he had “39 wonderful years” working in Loughan House.

“I treated them all as individuals,” he says of the many prisoners he worked with.

“You have to be of the belief that people can come round and see the harm they have done, and look forward to a future where they can contribute.”

“I used to do a lot of talking with them,” he continues.

“You get very soft when you get in there, you’re inclined to see it from their side.

“A lot of people would be of the opinion that they’re in jail and they should be suffering; I’m lucky enough that none of my family were ever a victim of anything but, if they were, you might have a different outlook.”

Through his teaching, Mr Doonan encouraged his students to foster their sense of discipline and patience; traits, he says, many prisoners lacked.

“That’s why an awful lot of lads ended up in Loughan,” he says.

“They might never have got a great start in life, but as well as never getting a great chance at anything, they just did not have patience.

“They wanted everything there and then, that’s why they got on the wrong track.”

A form of rehabilitation “hidden in the woodwork”, prisoners had to take their time and respect the wood they were working with.

Down through the years, Mr Doonan saw several prisoners turn their lives around, through making careers in handiwork, music, art, developing their culinary skills to work in restaurants, and writing books and teaching people about the dangers of drugs. While some prisoners may have continued their education after release, the majority set out to make a living and support their families.

Although he could’ve returned to mainstream classrooms, Mr Doonan “so loved” his work in Loughan House and chose to stay.

“When you went into Loughan House, from 9 o’clock in the morning until 4 o’clock in the afternoon, it was hell for leather. You hadn’t a minute but it was great,” he says, adding that they weren’t “under the pressure” of regular exams unless prisoners wished to do so, and, lightheartedly, that he “didn’t have many parent teacher meetings.”

There was a great relationship amongst those who worked there, he remembers. From around the 1980s until 2015, the same group of teachers all worked together.

“We all grew old together,” he reflects.

“You got to know them like family.”

>>> NEXT WEEK:

Róisín takes to an inmate about their experience in the system.