Several years ago in Mountjoy Prison, Jimmy* recalls being woken in the early hours to be told his best friend, two cells down, had died by suicide.
“I didn’t think I could talk [about things] back then, and my friend couldn’t talk, obviously. He was two cells away from me, and it broke me,” he says.
“When I got myself together, and I started getting off drugs, I wanted to give back, I wanted to do it in honour of him.”
Sitting in a room in Wheatfield Prison on Tuesday, wearing a bright blue T-shirt labelled “Listener” in gold stitching, he explains that the role has “changed my whole life” and made him a better person.
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“We don’t judge, we’re just there to support them, and we need more listeners to be doing that in the prison system because it’s not getting any better with the overcrowding,” Jimmy adds.
He was speaking before a ceremony to mark the 21st anniversary of the listener scheme at Wheatfield Prison, designed to offer trained prisoner-to-prisoner support. During the ceremony about 25 listeners were told they have “saved lives”.
During the ceremony, 15 newly trained prisoners were handed certificates by Caron McCaffrey, director general of the Irish Prison Service, having undergone a five-week-long training course delivered by Samaritans volunteers.
As of Tuesday, they are available to provide face-to-face support to their fellow inmates, of which there are 722 in total.
Anto*, a listener for six years, says providing support to other prisoners gives him a “sense of purpose”.
“We’re all in this little community. This is our little village in here, and you’d help your next-door neighbour if they were struggling, and it’s like that in here,” he says.
[ ‘Inhumane and degrading’ conditions contributed to 50% increase in prison deathsOpens in new window ]
Listeners in Wheatfield Prison respond to about 170 calls for support each year, according to Samaritans Ireland, with the main concerns over the last five years including family, mental health, first time in prison, loneliness and sentencing.
Anto explains that to the outside world, some issues might appear “little, but in here, it’s a big thing”.
“You only have the six-minute call [to family or friends], and you don’t know what’s after happening after that six minutes,” he says, while Christmas can be a particularly challenging time for prisoners with young children.
“There’s a lot of people in here that [their] kids think they’re either in the army or they’re gone to work, [asking] how come Daddy can’t come home. That brings a challenge on because people don’t like lying to their kids.”
Listeners such as Anto can sometimes be called upon to provide support in times of crisis, often in the middle of the night.
Across all Irish prisons last year, there were 203 episodes of self-harm involving 142 individuals, down slightly from 215 episodes involving 132 individuals in 2023.
“When you get that knock at night-time, you know it’s someone that really needs you,” he says.
Joe Ahearne, a Samaritans volunteer who supports the scheme, says it is “fundamental” to reaching prisoners who “find life tough and may be feeling suicidal”.
The training provided to listeners, who also avail of weekly support from Samaritans volunteers, is “intense”, he says, adding the scheme mirrors the work of volunteers in the outside world.
“The difference is, we do it on the phones, it’s all anonymous. We have great respect for the lads,” he says. “The job they do is much more difficult, it’s all face to face.”
Dave Treacy, governor of Wheatfield Prison, says prisoners “wouldn’t dare open up” to other inmates when he began his career in the prison service 25 years ago, as it was seen as a sign of weakness.
He now credits the listener scheme with transforming the environment of prisons. “I’ve talked to prisoners myself over the years who have become listeners or who have talked to listeners, and they probably wouldn’t be here only for that service,” he says.
Those affected by issues raised in this article can contact Samaritans Ireland on 116 123.
*The prisoners interviewed have used pseudonyms to protect their identity.
