Disgraced hurler DJ Carey is expected to be transferred to the Training Unit of Mountjoy Prison, following the example of former billionaire Sean Quinn.
This section of the prison is used to accommodate inmates over the age of fifty-five, ensuring they are protected from potential harm or bullying by younger, more violent prisoners, reports The Mirror.
A significant number of sex offenders are currently held in this part of the Mountjoy complex, which was once the old St Patrick’s Institution for young offenders, reports The Mirror.
It is also where businessman Sean Quinn — once among Ireland’s wealthiest individuals — was detained when he served time for contempt of court.
During his incarceration, Quinn often interacted with other inmates, offering them financial and tax advice while he continued to fight to retain parts of his former global business empire from the State-owned Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), reports The Mirror.
The IBRC, which absorbed the defunct Anglo Irish Bank, had been left with Quinn as one of its largest individual shareholders.
In November 2012, Quinn was jailed for contempt after defying a court order prohibiting him from moving assets beyond the reach of the IBRC, reports The Mirror.
He was sentenced to nine weeks in prison after evidence showed that members of the Quinn family were attempting to conceal millions of euro in property assets across the world from the State.
Quinn was sent to Mountjoy, where he is currently being held in the Committal Wing and has been assigned his own cell, reports The Mirror.
At one stage last Friday, Carey was due to be transferred to Portlaoise Prison, but the authorities reversed the decision at the last minute. He has since taken up a position working as a cook in the prison.
Typically, white-collar offenders in Ireland — such as Carey — serve the majority of their sentence in one of the country’s two open prisons, Shelton Abbey in Co Wicklow or Loughlin House in Co Cavan, reports The Mirror.
However, it is standard practice for such prisoners to spend a portion of their sentence, usually around 20 per cent, in a closed facility before being moved to an open prison.
A Mountjoy source said: “I would expect DJ to be moved to the Training Unit as it is known in the coming days until all the fuss has died down. He is a high-profile prisoner who has no history of violence and he is in his fifty-fifth year. It would be too much of a risk putting him in the main part of the prison. The prison bosses have to ensure nothing happens to him. We put Sean Quinn when he was here into the Training Unit and there was no problem. In fact he became very popular with all the other inmates and they used to spend hours on end playing cards with him and listening to his stories,” reports The Mirror.
“If they needed advice on anything they used to go to Sean Quinn. He did his time and there were no issues. I expect the same will happen with DJ and then he will be transferred out of here to one of the open prisons,” reports The Mirror.
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