The Irish Prison Service offers some of the most interesting and rewarding clinical work in the country, writes Emma Regan, Director of Care and Rehabilitation.
I am a clinical psychologist and more recently Director of Care and Rehabilitation with the Irish Prison Service. The clinical and professional grades I work with include general practitioners, general nurses, psychologists, dentists, psychiatric nurses, social workers, psychiatrists, pharmacists, addiction counsellors, opticians, physiotherapists, and soon, occupational therapists.
One thing we all have in common is that when we started training in our respective professions, it is unlikely any of us thought we would spend at least some, if not the majority of our career working in prisons. However, once you get past the wall and the airport style security, the work, the offices, the clinical environment and clinical need are very similar to the community.
There are almost 5,000 people in custody in the Irish Prison Service at the point of writing (April 2024). Of this, almost 1,000 are on remand, with the remainder serving sentences from months to life imprisonment. The Irish Prison Service accommodates people over the age of 18, right through to people who are in their 80s and 90s. Approximately five per cent of the population are women and they are accommodated in both Dóchas Centre in Dublin and Limerick Female Prison. There is a significant cohort of young people aged 18-24, as well as an older age population, defined in prisons internationally as over the age of 55 owing to the level of comorbidity and life expectancy of people who have contact with the prison system.
