Dermot Kinlen, the prisons inspector has passed away.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. Brian Lenihan, T.D., said that it was with deep regret that he had learned of the death earlier today of Judge Kinlen at his residence in Co. Kerry.

The Minister said “Dermot Kinlen was a personal friend and professional colleague of mine. He had a distinguished career as a barrister and served as a Judge of the High Court. He had a huge personal interest in the welfare of prisoners at home and abroad. He did so both as a member of Prison Visiting Committees in this jurisdiction and as a representative of the International Commission of Jurists.

Following his appointment as our Inspector of Prisons, in April 2002, he continued to be a trenchant advocate of the rights of prisoners. I would like to convey my personal condolences to his family and to his many friends and colleagues.”

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Sad news.

I always admired the way in which he challanged the Dept of Justice over the appalling conditions of Irish Prisons.

I hope someone as strong will be appointed in his place.

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"Nixon is PRO-WAR and PRO-FAMILY" - Nixion's head (Futurama)

I always had a great deal of respect for the man. The way his reports were sidelined was a disgrace, and his constant shouting about the conditions he witnessed is testament to his commitment. He was no hack, they could call him a loon and bar him from the cocktail parties, he was going to call a spade a spade. And he always did.

His replacement will have big shoes to fill.

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We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the internet, we know this is not true.

Without wanting to get into a possibly disrespectful discussion on a thread about his death, his reports (particularly the first few annual reports) were disgracefully poor, amateurish and absolutely unprofessional. If he wasn't taken seriously, the fault didn't lie exclusively with the Department of Justice.

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Failed liberal traitors:
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Smiffy, you just did, and it's not appropriate.

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Well perhaps all discussion of his work, good, bad or indifferent should be set aside in the context of this thread. It's hardly reasonable to those who dealt with him to allow comments about the way his reports were treated to remain if the content of those reports aren't up for discussion.

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A wonderfully compassionate and spiritual man.
Ar dheis De go raibh a h-anam dilis

Smiffy, you've been around here long enough to know how we handle such threads as this.

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A man who was admired for his work and who challenged the disgraceful state of our prisons. He did the state and Justice a lot of service.

God rest him.

Talking disrespectfull about the dead is something that is not pleasent
however it is commen for the Gardai in a statement when a man is shot saying that
"he was well known to them"

I will go back to the situation in the prision reports later when this dust has settled