Mags GarganMags Gargan speaks to people supporting some of the most marginalised Irish people around the world
The Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO) is one of those organisations that most people don’t know exist until they need them. Being sent to prison is a difficult experience for anyone and also for the loved ones left behind, but being imprisoned overseas is even more challenging, with difficulties such as discrimination, isolation, language barriers and having to deal with an unfamiliar legal system.
In some prison systems in the less developed world, Irish prisoners are dealing with extreme hardship, with limited access to basic necessities such as food and water. It is also much more traumatic for families back at home to keep in touch and be reassured that their loved one is safe and well.
The ICPO is a charitable organisation established by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference which has been supporting Irish people in this situation all over the world since 1985. It offers a confidential service for all overseas Irish prisoners, of all faiths and none, whatever the nature of their conviction.
“We provide support on issues like repatriation, deportation, health and legal matters, discrimination, access to post release support, all of those issues would come up in our day-to-day work,” says Joanna Joyce, the coordinator of the ICPO Maynooth office.
The ICPO also works closely with the prisoners’ families in Ireland, and can offer some financial support to prisoners.
“We can provide practical support in terms of a hardship fund that would provide financial support to prisoners who might need access to food, water, clothing or medical treatment. It also provides limited support for maintaining contact with home like phone credit or money for stamps. We provide some limited financial support for family prison visits,” Joanna says.
Offences
The ICPO supports people in over 25 countries who have been imprisoned for a wide range of offences. In Britain and the United States, the reasons for imprisonment vary greatly. In South and Central America, there is a higher proportion of drugs-related offences. Over the last few years, there has been an increase in the number of young people coming to the attention of the ICPO in Australia and this seems to be connected to the increase in Irish people travelling and working there.
“The vast majority have always been in Britain and that would be because of past emigration trends and close ties between Ireland and Britain,” Joanna says. “But we have seen an increase in the number of clients in Australia. For the last few years, we had four clients there pretty consistently and we are now in contact with about 21 prisoners in Australia. That’s why we recently launched the ‘Good To Know Before You Go’ awareness campaign.”
This new ICPO campaign emphasises the importance of being aware of cultural differences and of adhering to local laws and customs in other jurisdictions.
“Emigrants are often prepared in terms of accommodation and employment, but maybe not as aware of how easily someone can get into trouble when they are overseas. Obviously the majority of people are not going to come to the attention of the law, whether in Ireland or overseas, but especially with alcohol involved, people can find themselves in a situation they never intended to be in. Even the police can be more strict and what we might consider friendly banter in Ireland can be viewed as not following the direction of a police officer in other jurisdictions,” Joanna says.
A key aspect of the work of the ICPO is prison visits, and Joanna says having someone from Ireland visit makes a huge difference to Irish prisoners. The London office engages in an extensive prison visiting programme in Britain while a caseworker in the Maynooth office visits a number of clients in the United States and Europe each year. Outside of these areas the ICPO relies on the support of Irish missionaries to visit overseas prisoners.
Fr Gerry McFlynn, the project manager of the ICPO in London, has been visiting Irish prisoners for more than 20 years. Originally from Newcastle, Co. Down, and a priest of Down & Connor diocese, Fr Gerry is the last of about a dozen Irish priests who came to London in 1978 to work as prison chaplains. He works with a team of two full-time workers, three volunteers and a number of volunteer prison visitors.
“There are 126 prisons in England and Wales and the logistics of travelling to many of these locations can be mind-boggling, not to mention expensive, for many families,” he says.
As well as visiting the prisoners, the team often keep in touch with their families back at home on their behalf. “We reassure them that they are okay and we are keeping an eye on them. They feel such a sense of relief and it’s about keeping them informed and putting their minds at rest,” Fr Gerry says.
There are more than 1,000 Irish nationals in custody in England and Wales, and Fr Gerry says they are the second-largest ethnic group in the prison system, after the Polish. “About 40% are from a Traveller background and many have mental health problems or learning difficulties. Many are from a dysfunctional background or are trying to escape drugs problems, and they transfer their problems from Ireland to here, ending up in the wrong kind of company.”
Isolation
To combat the isolation many Irish prisoners experience overseas, the ICPO operates a ‘pen friend scheme’ which involves more than 80 letter-writing volunteers based in Ireland who correspond on a regular basis with ICPO clients abroad.
“It is extremely beneficial for prisoners who have little or no family contact to have that link with someone in the outside world, and especially a link to home,” Joanna says.
“We are lucky that we have always found people who are eager to volunteer for the scheme. A lot of people see that prisoners are one of the most marginalised groups of Irish emigrants and in a lot of ways a forgotten group of Irish people. Life is not black and white – there are a lot of grey areas and people realise that, but for the grace of God, I could be in that situation or someone I love could be in that situation.”
Sr Agnes Hunt RSHM from Kinsale, Co. Cork, was a prison chaplain in London for nearly 20 years. Now back in Ireland, she volunteers with the ICPO and writes letters to Irish prisoners serving life sentences in Britain.
“I try to pick out what their interests are,” she says. “I have one man who sends me a recipe every week because he’s a chef, so we write about that. I have another man who writes me a poem every week. He’s a Traveller and was self-educated. His poetry is very real, and some of his poems have won prizes.
“I get to know about their teams in the soccer, hurling and football, even boxing. I follow everything on the TV, so I can write about it. There’s one man who writes letters full of descriptions of what he can see from the cell window. Some of them say there’s nothing to write about in prison, others can write about anything and it’s really beautiful stuff.”
Sr Agnes was the first woman to be appointed to a chaplaincy in a male prison in Britain, when she began a placement at Wormwood Scrubs in 1978. During her time she formed close ties with many of the prisoners and their families, including the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four. She received the Hugh O’Flaherty International Humanitarian Award in 2012 for her commitment and empathy towards Irish prisoners overseas and their families.
She says working with prisoners has really changed her outlook on life. “It makes you wonder, what on earth are we doing building prisons? When I was leaving England 57,000 people were in prison, now it’s 87,000 because they built new prisons. Putting them inside and throwing away the key is one answer, but nothing is being done about what’s putting them in there.”
For more information on the ICPO see www.icpo.ie