On the path to employment..

The third in a special series on Loughan House Open Prison in Blacklion. This week reporter Róisín McManus speaks to one of the prison officers as well as an employer whose business benefitted from taking on workers from the facilities as part of their programme focusing on rehabilitation..

Walking around Loughan House, a sense of camaraderie and mutal respect is evident among prisoners and staff, who greet each other by name and title, all wearing plain clothes.

“The level of interaction between staff and prisoners is really good and I think that really gets prisoners ready for release,” regards Assistant Governor Johnny Higgins.

“The staff here are really good, very experienced,” he praises, adding that routine and engagement in services are strongly encouraged.

“You take [prisoners] on how you meet them and how they behave while they’re here,” he continues, adding that the peaceful, rural setting “definitely helps” with the therapeutic effect it can have on people in custody. Particularly for those who may not be familiar with this type of environment.

Chris McCaffrey from Bawnboy worked as a prison officer in Loughan House for 31 years. He first joined in January 1978.

The year he joined, Loughan House was converted into a youth detention centre for young male offenders aged between 12-16 years.

Primarily, members of the ‘Bugsy Malones’ were sent to the West Cavan facility. The teenage gang, at one point reported to have been led by a young Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, emerged in Dublin’s north inner city and city centre during the 1970s.

“Initially, when they came in first, they didn’t want to be there,” Chris says.

“There was containment there, they wouldn’t have been used to that.”

In the early days, there was some bad publicity around children being kept in what was considered a prison environment but this evened out after a few months and life in Loughan continued as normal.

“There was a really good relationship between the staff and the young lads,” Chris remembers.

“They really respected the staff there because the staff looked after them very well. It was a very homely atmosphere.

“It was just like a school. They were still only kids.”

The prison officers there looked after the young people, and they could go to school or the gym during the day.

Those who were kept in Loughan House were mainly from Dublin, but there were also some young people from Cork and Limerick sent there. More often than not, they were sentenced to two years and would end up back in custody again.

“Some of them came from a very bad background,” Chris remembers. “They really adapted to Loughan well but then, when they got out, they went back into the same environment again.”

Over the years, Chris has met many former inmates outside of work.

“When you’d be up in Dublin, you’d meet them all,” he says. “Down O’Connell Street and they’d be shouting over at you. You could meet them anywhere.”

Loughan House later reopened as an open centre for adult males in 1983. Although it was “completely different” when the young offenders were there because they were “only children”, the relationship between the prison staff and adult prisoners was “excellent” and many of them would share their personal experiences with the staff.

“The reality is; they’re there and we’re there, and it’s easier for everybody to get on together,” says Chris.

“Most of them would be co-operative but you’d always get the occasional guy who wanted to test the system.”

Chris recalls bringing well-behaved prisoners to the cinema or swimming in Ballyshannon. They also played soccer against teams from around Sligo who came in to play against them.

“It was a very relaxed regime,” says Chris. “It was wide open, they could do what they wanted to do.”

At that time, many worked for outside farmers and local mechanics.

A lot of them were also interested in woodwork and completing computer classes.

Some went as far as Enniskillen and Sligo to take part in courses.

“It was a lovely place to work,” Chris praises, adding that there were a number of local people who worked there.

“They always respected when you treated somebody very fair with respect, you got the respect back too.

“No matter where you met any of these prisoners on the outside, they’d always come up to you and have a chat with you.

“I’ve met hundreds of them in every town in the country; not a negative word ever was said.”

To the rear of the education unit, the horticulture garden is where prisoners go to learn how to grow fruit and vegetables. Here, they can take some time to see their work coming to fruition.

A group of prisoners are gathered in one of the garages opposite the garden, where they are learning about car parts, guided by one of several employed work training officers (WTOs).

A member of the public pulls in outside the garages to get their car washed. People can also get their cars valeted here, and those carrying out the work have received all of the necessary training.

Every area in the prison that engages with prisoners has a WTO, including the kitchen, the gym and the farm, which is located not far from the prison’s pier at Lough MacNean. The farm meanwhile houses cattle that are exported to developing countries, along with cows from Shelton Abbey, as part of a collaboration with Bóthar.

Completing courses with WTOs is an important form of progression for prisoners before moving into employment, Mr Higgins explains, “because they’ve proven themselves.”

They can receive certifications for completing these courses, including in laundry, industrial cleaning and industrial skills for painting, decorating and tiling.

Certification opportunities, as well as education and employment opportunities, are another part of the “normalisation” process for prisoners returning to society.

In the carpark between the garages and the garden, several prisoners have parked their cars, which they use to travel to work. A number of empty spaces at midday indicates the amount of those who are out working.

Jobs for inmates

Since 2024, 63 prisoners have been employed locally. The process of developing and maintaining good working relationships with local employers is something the open centre has worked hard on and is extremely proud of.

“We’ve good relations with those employers that we have, and it shows that when one man leaves that they’re willing to take on another man,” says Mr Higgins.

On any one day, there could be up to 30 prisoners in paid employment “across a wide, varied sector” in the locality, from Sligo to Cavan Town, and several places in between.

One retailer employs a number of prisoners from Loughan House in their Cavan and Sligo stores.

The shop previously had a maintenance crew, made up of inmates skilled in various trades, who were brought to their Cavan, Longford, Monaghan or Sligo businesses to carry out necessary repairs.

“It’s all about engagement and keeping lads busy, getting them something they enjoy, that they’re good at, and progressing them,” explains Mr Higgins.

“Once these employers came on board, we’ve had lads transition through them, and then once they’ve got released home into their own community, some of them have stayed on in the jobs, if it’s near them,” he continues, adding that prisoners who can show that they have used their time positively at paid employment while in custody will benefit from that work experience on release.

“Let’s be honest, some people would say that this could be classed as an employment blackspot but we’ve lads working around here on a daily basis, and those businesses value that workforce,” he continues.

“They sometimes say that, maybe without those, they would have struggled to fill the roles, so it benefits everyone.

“Employers in the local area are getting a skilled workforce and the lads here are delighted to be out and get that opportunity, a second chance.”

Working gives prisoners an opportunity to meet people “with no agenda,” adds Mark Lydon, Governor of Loughan House.

“Work is a really strong part of the whole resocialisation process for them, they’re not dealing with us as prison staff, they’re not dealing with their families, they’re dealing with people as people with no agenda and I think that’s really important for the men here as part of getting ready to go home and reenter society,” states Mr Lydon.

Damien Donohoe, Managing Director of Ultimat Heat Pads, is one such employer.

The Cavan town man’s company, based on the Dublin Road, makes heat pads for farm animals.

The work is labour-intensive and workers need to undergo training to learn the process of fibre glass laminating used to create the pads.

The local company currently employs four people.

Needing to find more workers, Damien looked into taking on prisoners from Loughan House. Since January, he has employed two prisoners on a full-time basis.

“It filled a need for me and it’s worked out exceptionally well since,” Damien tells the Celt.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the two lads,” he says.

“They were very grateful for the opportunity and they worked exceptionally hard because they wanted to take the chance that was being given to them.

“They were there every morning on time, they worked really hard. There was a learning curve and mistakes but there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. It was the same as pretty much any other employee.

“As an employer, I felt more satisfaction out of that because they really were very grateful for the opportunity, and for those moments when they’re out on weekend release they have a few pound in their pocket.”

For the two men employed by Damien, who carpooled together each day from Blacklion, working afforded them a sense of financial independence.

Recounting the story of one of prisoner, who before he started working couldn’t afford takeaway food for his family while out on his first weekend release, Damien says he couldn’t wait to get paid with the money he’d rightfully earned on his second release.

“A small thing like that made a huge difference and made it worth my while as well,” Damien says.

Both prisoners have since been released. They weren’t due for release until the end of this year or early next year but they got early remission, which they partly earned through good behaviour and taking up employment while in custody.

The time-sensitive nature of prisoners taking up employment, particularly those who may be nearing the end of their sentence, Damien believes, is the only “slight downside” to employing prisoners.

“I suppose it’s the tradeoff that it takes some time to get them used to it, and the fact that Loughan House is an open prison - used for end of term and low-risk offenders - you have the risk that they’re not going to be with you for terribly long.”

The first person Damien employed had a physical disability, but he was facilitated by making some changes to the working environment.

At the time, this prisoner qualified for the Wage Subsidy Scheme, which provides financial support to employers who employ people with disabilities. The support was a major incentive for Damien.

“That negated the risk that I was fearful of taking on somebody coming from a prison environment,” Damien explains.

“I suppose when you’re dealing with somebody that has a criminal record you’re going to be a little bit cautious.

“The apprehension would have been that maybe you end up with somebody that’s going to cause trouble around the workshop and maybe it’s going to be more hassle than it’s worth. There was a fear that you’re putting money into something that is a risk, that instead of it being productive, it ends up being worse than the alternative.”

Despite his initial hesitation, Damien had a positive experience employing the first prisoner, and was encouraged to employ another.

“Once I took on the first lad, I was confident then that I’d try it again,” he says.

Damien employed the second prisoner without any financial support about a month after taking on the first. Overall, he has found the experience worthwhile.

“What it’s done for me is shown that people who end up in prison may have made just a bad decision, and if people don’t give them a chance to get back on the straight and narrow, they may make another bad decision.”

Damien finds the removal of the Wage Subsidy Scheme for prisoners with disabilities “really disappointing”, and thinks that supports to incentivise employers to employ prisoners is “vital”.

“It’s a barrier for the simple reason that I would definitely try it again because I have seen a lot of benefits to it on both sides, but I probably wouldn’t have tried it initially if there wasn’t that [subsidy/incentive] to negate the risk,” he explains.

“Where we are in Cavan, and where Loughan is, it works, and there are people there who are willing to work, who have disabilities, and I would not be taking on one of those people in the prison when I could get somebody in the ordinary population, so it’s a big disadvantage for the people in there who maybe need it. It’s unfair that’s being taken away.”

He fears the removal of the financial support for employers could lead to negative experiences for prisoners.

“What’s the alternative when they’re being deprived of money and yet being released for the weekend?” he asks.

“What can they do and how do they feel when they’re going back, and maybe it’s in that situation where they don’t have money that trouble might find its way back to them again.

“I can’t fathom that somebody, because they’re in prison, they’re being let out to work but there’s no subsidy, but if they finish their sentence in the morning, there would be a subsidy.”

A spokesperson from the Department of Social Protection outlined to the Celt: “The Department of Social Protection, through the Intreo Employment Service, provides an individualised Employment Service and a range of Employment Supports to assist and support people, including those preparing to leave prison, find a pathway to sustainable employment.”

Tosú Ireland, formerly known as IASIO, is the organisation dedicated to supporting people with criminal convictions.

An agreement, aimed at supports for people leaving prison, was revised in early July 2026.

“The protocol aims to improve outcomes for clients who have completed training, education and work experience while in custody, on probation or while completing community service as well as those who present with additional needs such as addiction or mental health issues,” the statement explained.

Under the terms of the protocol, in advance of the client’s release from prison, Tosú Training and Employment Officers and designated Intreo Employment Personal Advisors to work together with clients to address barriers to employment and provide access to education, upskilling, business start-ups, work placements and employment opportunities.

The Department also pointed to various other supports and schemes including the Community Employment (CE) scheme, Tús (community work placement initiative), Work Placement Experience Programme, and Back to Education Allowance.

In relation to the Wage Subsidy Scheme, the Department notes that this is intended to support employers where a person’s disability or health condition means that their job tasks or role need to be significantly adapted. There are further qualifying criteria.