free state jails not full enough it seems...
Saturday May 03 2008 A woman spent a night in Mountjoy Prison for non-payment of a €450 court penalty following a four-year stand-off with her local authority. Mary Brooks was sent to Mountjoy after she failed to pay the fine and legal costs imposed two years ago. She had been warned two years earlier that she was in breach of planning law by having a satellite TV dish erected on the front of her Galwayhome. Throughout 2004 and 2005 the single mother of two received repeated warnings advising her that if she did not remove the dish she would be prosecuted. And by the time the case reached Galway District Court in 2006 the dish had been removed. She was, nonetheless, fined €50 for the breach and, because she did not appear in court, the council's legal costs were awarded against her, leaving her with a bill of €450. Ms Brooks, whose two children are aged 11 and 6, said she could not afford to pay the fine and offered €10 a week. The offer was not acceptable to the Courts Service and Ms Brooks then opted for a night in prison. But she had not reckoned on being taken to Mountjoy last Monday -- she had thought that she would be detained locally. Disgusted "It was very shocking to me. I wouldn't even put a dog in the prison. I'm so disgusted with them, that they put me in Mountjoy Prison over a small fine. I was in a cell with three others who I didn't know and I had to sleep on a mattress on the floor," she said. Ms Brooks said that when the governor of Mountjoy found out what she had been sent to prison he had her released the following morning. Galway City Council issued a brief statement pointing out that recovery of penalties imposed by the courts are a matter for the Courts Service.
Saturday May 03 2008 A woman spent a night in Mountjoy Prison for non-payment of a €450 court penalty following a four-year stand-off with her local authority. Mary Brooks was sent to Mountjoy after she failed to pay the fine and legal costs imposed two years ago. She had been warned two years earlier that she was in breach of planning law by having a satellite TV dish erected on the front of her Galwayhome. Throughout 2004 and 2005 the single mother of two received repeated warnings advising her that if she did not remove the dish she would be prosecuted. And by the time the case reached Galway District Court in 2006 the dish had been removed. She was, nonetheless, fined €50 for the breach and, because she did not appear in court, the council's legal costs were awarded against her, leaving her with a bill of €450. Ms Brooks, whose two children are aged 11 and 6, said she could not afford to pay the fine and offered €10 a week. The offer was not acceptable to the Courts Service and Ms Brooks then opted for a night in prison. But she had not reckoned on being taken to Mountjoy last Monday -- she had thought that she would be detained locally. Disgusted "It was very shocking to me. I wouldn't even put a dog in the prison. I'm so disgusted with them, that they put me in Mountjoy Prison over a small fine. I was in a cell with three others who I didn't know and I had to sleep on a mattress on the floor," she said. Ms Brooks said that when the governor of Mountjoy found out what she had been sent to prison he had her released the following morning. Galway City Council issued a brief statement pointing out that recovery of penalties imposed by the courts are a matter for the Courts Service.