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A PRISONER WHO has attacked more than two dozen prison officers over the past decade is currently being bought Playstation games by prison managers and has a fish tank outside his cell.
Speaking at the annual conference of the Prison Officers Association Assistant General Secretary Gabriel Keaveney said:
“He has been given a Playstation, the management have gone out and purchased games for him.
“A fishtank has been put out on the landing to pacify him. This guy has very seriously assaulted staff in the past.
They are now talking about building a garden for him off the landing for him to have some time in, this is completely unacceptable.
“There seems to be no loss of money when it comes to dealing with these people, I mean we’re in riot gear at the moment dealing with this guy, he’s that dangerous.
“They also bring in special brown bread for him which no other prisoner has access to.
Every time he opens the fish tank there has to be three officers in riot gear, he’s that dangerous.
TheJournal.ie understands the prisoner in question is Leon Wright who has been described as Ireland’s angriest man after stabbing two people on Grafton street in 2013 while on bail for assaulting two gardaí.
There were over 220 complaints against him in prison.
Keaveney added: We’re not allowed to carry a baton we have nothing to defend ourselves only our bare hands.
“It’s rewarding bad behaviour the way we see it.”
The Director General of the Irish Prison Service Michael Donnellan said he could not comment on individual cases but added:
“We have some very troubled and troublesome prisoners, and we do everything we can to think outside the box to try and re-engage them, because all of these people are going back out into society and it’s our job in prison to rehabilitate people.
“So to crush people more in my experience, and internationally, doesn’t really work – it makes people more angry. So what you’ve got to try and do is build people up so we can have a safer society.”
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So when he gets out and the rest of us aren’t bringing him presents – what then?
We line his back pocket with social welfare money so he can drink and bet to his hearts content.
He will take what he wants and then go back to his goldfish .
What kind of brown bread :o ? I could understand if its McCambridge that is good :D
Absolutely disgraceful that this situation exists. The bleeding hearts civil rights crowd have an awful kot to answer for here. While its right that prisoners should be taken care of this is just a joke. The whole situation needs to be re balanced
Ah but ya know, not being able to look at some pretty flowers or feed his fish is a massive breach of his human rights. Bless him
Just softening the process – Denis is used to all the comforts in life and the law is all about precedent is it not …?
When a farmer has a bull calf that goes around the place pucking and fightin’ they take out the Burdizzo and quieten him …
It work every time !- Absolutely every time ….
We’d be giving the like of Frankie Feighan and Tom Barry a rub of it now – if they were cattle like – that kinda thing !
That’s not anything to do with civil rights activists, its the prison management who are responsible for this nonsense!
The b******d should be fed TO the fishes not FEEDING them.
As I pointed out on many other threads the lunatics are/have taken over the asylum.
Everyone now has their “right” ( no responsibilities mind you)
I feel I was born as a bird (to fly) now in going to sue for the taxpayers to fund a surgeon to attach a pair of “f*****g wings so I can be a bird!!!!
(Singing softly to myself….”If I were a blackbird I’d whistle and sing and follow my true love……”)
just googled ‘Burdizzo’. Sweet Jaysis. Poor bull.
the term ‘for the birds’ springs to mind, Bill
guards cant carry batons? how are they expected to defend themselves?
Don’t Guards carry torches about a foot long that are the same as batons?
Your watching to much tv
No they font
Why don’t they learn how to defend themselves? Would that not be about the best thing you could learn in that line of work? Should it not be a prerequisite? Eejits
Guards can… Prison Officers can’t, presumably as it could be used against them
What am i doing?! What’s the point in me going to work, being flat broke and depressed not knowing where the next meal is going to come from for my daughter and here lies a great a little life behind bars! It sounds more like a feckin retreat than prison!
Ffs the mind boggles with this country!
There is an answer Sam. Do not pay the TV licence and you get a warm cell, meals and TV. No,paying out at all.
Qi am surprised that most people aren’t opting for this now as it may be the only way to get these things in the future.
Absolute bullshit! Prison is supposed to be punishment!
Prison is punishment but it’s for the prisoner officers who have to take his outbursts.
Prison is a punishment his freedom has been taken away from him!!! So what if a prisoner gets a TV / playstation or special diet they are such trivial things he can’t go out , movements are restricted under constant supervision etc. I find it odd nobody has mentioned the high recidivism rates in this country , why most of our prison population are from the same areas , why people commit crime , etc we are locking up human beings and criticising because he gets a playstation FFS ! Prison should be about rehabilitation not just punishment!
They should sedate him next time he has an outburst and keep him that way
A playstation? That’s an absolute disgrace. Why doesn’t this man have a playstation 4? What sort of a hell hole is he living in?
There really is something wrong with this country’s justice and penal system. You seem to be rewarded more the less you contribute to society.
Happens in every facility we have now. Europe demands we treat prisoners better than the general populous meaning there is no deterrent to crime and is the reason we are seeing growing rates of more dangerous crimes. We’ve been doing it for years though. Go on a tour of spike island, as a barracks for our armed forces it was cold damp and miserable. To be used as a prison it was refitted with new windows, proper heating and new toilets.
The irony is endless. If you go to prison for not paying your RTE subscription (aka TV licence) you get to watch TV in your cell without the need to ever pay.
If it wasn’t so sick it would be funny
Arm the prison officers. Retaliating with bare hands when prisoners might access weapons is crazy. A good battering would sort out this fellow’s attitude. Totally justified for prison officers to defend themselves with force. Batons cost a lot less than gardens and fish tanks.
Handcuffs and shackle him every time he has to leave his cell just like the Americans do he won’t assault anyone then.
The truth is the IPS and the management have so much to answer for. They are like the politicians, they don’t live in the real world. These big wigs in suits sit behind their desks and tap a away on their keyboards and engage on a constant basis with all these PC groups. The emphasis is only ever on the prisoner and how they can recoup savings in the system. They don’t have to stand face to face with these dangerous prisoners on a daily basis. The same script is always read out “what about their human rights”, well what about the officers “human rights”, what about the poor officers that have been stabbed and sliced and injured ? What about the mental and physical damage that they have acquired ? Imagine their wives/husbands and childrens anguish when their partners arrive home battered and bruised and cut on a regular basis. I used to believe in the system but the IPS have shown that by not giving staff the basic equipment such as stab vests, pepper spray, tasers etc that they really don’t care about their own staff. They are on the side of the prisoner. The question I would ask anybody is “Over the last 15 years has the do good approach worked ? Is our society a better and safer place ? The answer in my opinion is no. The justice system needs an overhaul from the Minister down. Proper sentences and punishment should be applied. Our jails are a good representation of what dangerous people our on our streets. PC brigade needs to go.
Good man Chris, finally a bit of sense on this subject.
Ah leon Wright…..ran down Grafton street slashing people indiscriminately. Absolute psycho. If the prison system was tougher, people might think twice before they went back there. As it is they do their time “on their back”. This lunatic though, he will get out kill someone, and then get life. Not if but when….
You’ve hit the nail firmly on the head!
The legacy of John Lonergan. Touchy, feelie former Governor.
Exactly, all the left are the same.
JOKE COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was a warden from the US on radio a few years back….his inmates get one item in their cell….the holy bible. They are too tired from the manual labour they do during the day to even bothar starting a fight.
Sheriff joe arpaiao in Arizona
He’s the one who is proud of the fact that the food budget for the dogs is higher than the inmates.
Good for them.
Also makes them wear pink underwear and sleep in tents. Has a neon sign above the jail that constantly flashes Vacancies
Shame we cant send him to Australia nowadays
He commits crimes then the victims of his crimes subsidise his prison life with their taxes, he gets the best of medical care and education while pensioners lie on trollies for days , he gets a warm safe bed and good hot meals while kids go to school hungry and men women and children sleep on the streets .
Keep quiet ,don’t protest about anything and pay up people .
Just slip a couple of tablets in his yummy brown bread and put him to sleep for 23hrs a day…The other hour could be time sitting on the toilet with the laxatives you put in it too..
Eh whatever happen to solitary confinement? ? This is beyond ridiculous.
My thoughts exactly.
Wtf! So punishing someone for doing something wrong is now not ok, instead we have to “build them up” with goldfish and PlayStation games??? The word’s gone f*cken mad ted…mad!
Jesus I’d love a playstation! I work everyday and I can’t afford one! That peice of shite should be thrown in a dark hole and left to rot, not pampered like a princess, it’s disgusting, the governor of the joy should be sacked and handed his arse on a plate!
Instead of the prison management buying a ps4 they should have bought a few tasers for the guards.
Every time he gets violent……zap.
Job done.
On final comment on the topic above. If the softy soft approach worked then surely the above named prisoner when he finished his sentence and was released would not of been on bail for assaulting two guards and furthermore when on bail would not of stabbed two innocent people. Obviously the gold fish didn’t do his job in being a calming influence and the playstation games didn’t work. Sure I suppose the next logical thing to do is send out a few officers to purchase this poor chap a little puppy and upgrade his playstation to an X Box. No doubt this will fix the problem. I would love to see a group set up by victims of crime ……. a group where the victims of murder and rape decide on the rehabilatation of these prisoners. Then and only then will justice be served. The worst part is we let certain people out come their expiry on their sentence and we know that these individuals are “evil and depraved” and that they are being freed to wreak havoc on more innocent people and ruin more peoples lives, yet we are powerless to stop it. If the government were serious they would open a prison for all these violent inmates and have both army and prison officers run it with all the protection and equipment required and trust me this country would be a safer place.
Good idea there Chris. I am all for it. The world is so violent most of us oldies live in fear.
That’s ridiculous,
I was talking to a bloke that worked in port Laois jail years back,said these days you can’t do anything,everybody is looking at you and grassing up people,
Years back you could give a lad a hiding and nothing was said about it,
This lad is walking all over them.
“Every time he opens the fish tank there has to be three officers in riot gear, he’s that dangerous.”
That goldfish has a serious chip on his shoulder.
last year he got a punchbag fitted in his cell to “curb his agression”
Spare a thought for these prison officers who have to go work and deal with this everyday . its like an abusive partner , victims in that situation try to everything they can just to keep the abuser happy . if this bloke is that dangerous and a risk to others then the only solution is solitary confinement . forget about his human rights !
God help those prison officers and any other victims of this guy but he is as just as much as a victim as they are. He is a victim of the brutal mental health system in Ireland. If he had cancer he would have a better chance of getting help but it’s Ireland. We are in the dark ages when it come to mental health assistance.
To equate this to an abusive partner is ridiculous. If you want to work as a prison officer you are going to have to deal with prisoners. A prisoner is a person who does not live by the rules and is often violent. If you don’t want to get shot at don’t join the bloody army. Some people working in the prison service aren’t up to the job but they passed the test. You have to be physically and much more importantly mentally strong to work in this job and unfortunately an awful lot of these officers are not.
*Dumbfounded*
Lethal injection. Problem solved
Sorry to burst Mr Donnellan bubble but since he taken over assaults on staff have increased because of his hug a tug policy, A TUG IS A TUG YOU CAN’T CHANGE HIS DNA. Under this present regime the bigger the tramp is the more he get. Birthday cakes,fish tanks the louder they cry the more they get. Mr Donnellan is misleading the public by saying this is not happening it is, he should verify his facts before he makes comments on staff. It is a waste of time getting these prisoners charged as little or nothing will happen. I have been assaulted on several occasions including the prisoner in question with little or no consequences for the increase question, because of this he has gone on to assault staff again, same as most prisoners that assault staff they know that they can get away with it plus get special treatment
,
The D.G hadn’t a clue how to deal with violent criminals . They will reoffend
Pacify him? Why? Just lock him in solitary and feed him through a hole. Couple of years of that and he’ll b quiet and if he isn’t then just keep doing it. There is no need for human contact with this thing. It’s not rocket science lads ffs.
A play station and a gold fish?.
So If I got assaulted or stabbed,I sit in hospital,pay my medical bills,while he sits in a cell with a play station and other luxuries to make him comfortable!
Where is they comfort for they victim?!
if he has attacked that many prison officers
the soft approach is certainly not working
it all sounds bloody ridiculous
soft irish jail system
Going inside is like going on holiday for these scrotes
Whatever happened to a Thorazine drip….
We’re teaching people with the impulse control and decision making skills of children that attacking police officers is the way to be rewarded with computer games..
There used to be par aldehyde, awful stuff but effective.
Could have been cruel and suggested a surgical lobotomy…
This guy obviously just needs loving.
‘misunderstood,passionate,reclusive male,seeks like minded female to share his love for gardening and goldfish admiring.must bake own bread’. GSOH essential.
I’m going on a crime spree I want me some of that easy livin, if there’s any prison officers reading this please book me grand theft auto
Embarrassing and pathetic.
Disgraceful , and the elderly being neglected in hospital trolleys/care homes and these dirtbags get the luxury treatment. This is screwed up
I waited to see what comments ye would put up and I was right. This make does not belong in the prison population . He has serious mental health difficulties. I know his situation and his family and they have pleaded with the authorities to get them to give him the help he so badly needs. He’s not a scam bag. He is a very sick guy who needs professional help.
How do you know he has serious mental health issues ?
I don’t mean offense here, this is a genuine question, i just cant think of any other term… is there a facility in Ireland for the “criminally insane”?
Central Mental Hospital Dundrum would be my guess .
Get one then would be the answer for the safety of the rest of the country. But of course, the TD’s and the rich all have good safe places and protection so what does it matter in the scheme of things.
@Derry Seery Yes, we have. Its called The Dail
Marie , give it a rest will you , Derry asked a genuine question .
Lads like this are given the “all clear” from the lunatic asylum to be put back amongst the “normal” prison population. The doctors out there don’t want to have to deal with the likes of these crazy b##stards so declare that they’re sane enough to carry out their sentence in prison.
Is there any value to society by this guy’s continued existence at all? This ‘every life is equally special’ malarky is quite clearly wrong so why don’t we just change the rules…
Well ” mammy” I’m sorry for his families troubles but does that excuse the fact he has been given a playstation , a fish tank and a punchbag . He should be locked away from other prisoners and staff because he is such a danger . Clearly if he has those mental issues prison is not the place for him but the article is about the fact of all that has been bought for a single prisoner and now no doubt all other prisoners will see it as their right to get the same . As I say I’m sorry for his problems but it’s an absolute disgrace he or any prisoner gets those privileges. They are not there for a holiday
Has anyone spent time to read up on this, norway has the lowest reoffending rate in the world less than 30% (compared to the UK which is 70%) because the prisons there are actually for rehabilitation. They are right to try something different.
And there are those extremely violent prisoners even in Norway Matthew that cannot, or are unwilling to be rehabilitated.
This method of ‘reward for anger’ is clearly sending the wrong message to this individual.
I know what special brown bread I would give him. A nice dose of lethal poison. Savage.
I’ve just seen a photo of him, I see he gets his hair done specially, as well ( his fringe). Looking at him, I’m wondering how, they have to have riot gear on to deal with him!
There should be a lethal injection in cases like his
I agree, or flick the switch. What a waste of time and space this cretin is.
Our justice system is more concerned with the supposed rights if criminals than victims.
Who said prisons are not like hotels, some seem better than hotels now?
I think i’ll commit a crime you get more on the inside than you would on the outside, i don’t have a gold fish.
Having read all the above comments it’s clear that the majority of people think that this Leon Wright fella should not be given special treatment after carrying out 150+ assaults on staff members of the prison service, personally I believe that this MONSTER should be given the DEATH SENTENCE as he clearly has no place in society. It’s high time in this Republic we the people of Ireland stop being led by PC Groups and treat like for like these barbaric creatures, eyes for eyes & teeth for teeth, death for murder etc. Arab nations take no shit why should we.
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