It may be a little known fact, but every man or woman who becomes a prison officer in Ireland must do their training in Portlaoise.
The Irish Prison Service College is located on the Dublin Road, Portlaoise, adjacent to the Portlaoise Prison Campus.
And it has undergone a multi-million euro upgrade over the last year which has seen it transformed into a state of the art facility.
The Irish Prison Service College is responsible for the planning, coordination, design, delivery, evaluation and recording of all learning and development activities for the organisation staff.
This Friday, November 9, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan will officially open the refurbished IPS College.
But ahead of that, members of the media were invited to the campus for a tour of the facility and were also given the chance to speak to some of the people who make the place tick.
Sylvia Flynn is an assistant chief officer and tutor who deals with preparing people to become prison officers and she says the training has changed a lot since when she joined.
She said: “It is much better now than when we started. Years ago, you came here, you did your training. You didn’t see the inside of a prison where as now they do an orientation day and then when they do their physical competency test they visit the prison again to give them the sights, smells and sounds.
“It means they don’t have the rabbit caught in headlights look when they come into a prison for the first time. It gives them an idea of what they are coming into rather than arriving here and realizing they don’t want to do this.
“This has led to less drop outs in training because you are giving them an idea of what it is like. You are answering all the questions they have. So you introduce them slowly into the prison.
“They get to shadow existing officers. They see what exactly is involved in the job and they are far more prepared.
“You are being trained here for every eventuality. You are the guard, the fireman, the medical staff because you are the first responder. But at the end of the day you are there to engage with the prisoners.”
Declan McBrearty, a Donegal native, is also an assistant chief officer and tutor who works training new recruits between Portlaoise and a base in West Dublin.
Speaking in the simulation centre in the Irish Prison College, where recruits are shown exactly what it is like to operate in a prison with mock cells, he says he believes almost all prisoners can be rehabilitated.
He said: “I’m an optimist and you have to believe you can do your best for everybody. But at the same time, you have to be realistic.
“We get people who come to us with massive problems from when they were very young. It is a huge challenge to try rehabilitate every last person.
“We do our absolute best and we try to see the good in everybody. What you have to do is separate the behaviour from the person you are dealing with.
“So you have to say ‘right this guy has done something in his past but you can’t define him by that’. You have be able to see the potential in them that they can actually change.
“So I would like to believe almost everyone can be rehabilitated but at the same time you have to be realistic.”
Stradbally native Ray O’Keeffe is the chief officer in the Irish Prison College and he is also the prisoner care training manager.
He spoke about the changes that have taken place as part of the refurbishment.
He said: “The refurbishment did up the old building which was built in 1982 and really hadn’t been upgraded ever since.
“The extension provides us with an offices space for the training team. The reception area and meeting rooms allow us to host events from across the organisation.”
All new entrants to the organisation complete basic induction training at the Irish Prison Service College.
The duration of this induction training varies depending on the grade and role with new Prison Nurses and Administrative Staff completing three weeks of training.
Recruit Prison Officers complete Semester 1 of a 2 year Higher Certificate in Custodial Care, in the Irish Prison Service College.
The first 12 weeks take place in Portlaoise with the remaining 3 semesters of this induction programme are delivered by Waterford IT, in conjunction with the Irish Prison Service College, in Dublin, where all students are posted as Recruit Prison Officers following successful completion of Semester 1.
After that, all existing staff come back here and will undertake two days of training per year.
Governor Dave Clarke is responsible for the Irish Prison Service College and all the learning development that happens here.
Back in 2013, the main building in the IPC was renamed the Brian Stack House in honour of the Portlaoise prison officer who was shot in the neck in 1983 by members of the Provisional IRA and died after 18 months in hospital.
Governor Clarke believes it was very fitting to name the building after Brian Stack and also spoke about the upcoming Open Day.
He said: “Brian Stack gave his life for his country. He was shot and killed leaving a boxing match in Dublin and throughout the years we’ve tried to out his sacrifice into a tangible monument and I think there is nowhere better than calling the main administrative building of our training college in his honour.
“We take classes of 25 recruit prison officers here at a time and 200 in a year. The staffing numbers in the college are around 25.
“We are very much looking forward to the Open Day which is on Saturday November 10 from 10am to 2pm – to give people an understanding and appreciation of what we do here.
“People who come here won’t get to see a prison or prisoners, but they will get to see all of our facilities here.
“Laois is one of our greatest recruitment areas given that we have two of our biggest prisons situated here.”
