Female prison officers do not feel safe working at Limerick Women's Prison, according to the Prison Officers’ Association.
It comes as Gardaí investigate claims a transgender inmate threatened to rape a female prison officer working at the prison.
The inmate, who has legally changed her name and been granted a gender recognition certificate, was sent to the prison earlier this year.
Gardaí are now investigating claims she made threats against a female prison officer earlier this week.
"Quite serious"
Speaking to Newstalk this afternoon, Prison Officers’ Association Chief Tony Power said the alleged threats were “quite serious”.
He said the Irish Prison Service (IPS) must bring forward a policy on transgender prisoners as soon as possible.
“It is becoming a more common thing where we have transgender people coming into prison and it is our priority to keep our members safe,” he said.
“We are asking the prison service to come up with a policy on transgender [prisoners].”
Policy
Last month, the interim Justice Minister Simon Harris said the IPS was due to finalise a new policy for transgender prisoners within weeks; however, the policy has yet to be published.
An IPS spokesperson today told Newstalk the new policy would be based on international best-practice.
“The Irish Prison Service is currently drafting a policy for the management of transgender prisoners,” she said.
“To take account of evolving trends internationally and fact-finding in relation best-practice in other jurisdictions in order to inform the final policy, which remains under careful consideration before finalisation.”
Limerick Women's Prison
She said Gardaí had been informed of the alleged threats against prison officers.
“The Irish Prison Service is aware of an incident in Limerick Prison,” said.
“An Garda Siochana have been informed and therefore the Irish Prison Service cannot comment on ongoing investigations.”
A Garda spokesperson said officers are, “investigating an incident that occurred at Limerick Prison on Tuesday 25th April 2023."
The investigation is ongoing.
The Prison Officers Association (POA) Annual Delegate Conference is being held in Galway today.
Anyone impacted by the contents of this article can contact the National 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline on 1800 77 8888.
