The Blantyre House Prison Affair: Lessons from a Modern-day Witch Hunt - Softcover

Tom Murtagh OBE

Softcover

ISBN 10: 190438031X ISBN 13: 9781904380313

Publisher: Waterside Press, 2007

Synopsis

In this autobiographical account of life as a prison governor and administrator, Tom Murtagh deals with life in charge of the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland (when he narrowly avoided being killed by a terrorist bomb) and his move to England that saw him in charge of prisons in Kent and elsewhere. This is when he was faced with a remarkable series of events at Blantyre House where a modern, liberal ground-breaking and in many respects successful regime was beginning to attract the attention of reformers, academics and others. But that regime also masked more sinister developments - events that should ultimately have received serious attention from a House of Commons select Committee set up to look into 'The Blantyre House Affair'.Only now - and after much reflection - does Tom Murtagh feel able to tell publicly his side of the affair: of how that committee chose to concentrate on selective and misleading information and 'got it wrong'.Despite all the accolades for Blantyre House, behind the scenes and in reality, the regime was being taken advantage of by a number of very serious offenders who had managed to get themselves transferred there such that the establishment was at risk of being overtaken by organized crime and corruption, leading to covert police and other criminal investigations.The book tells how the author acted to pre-empt this - only to be vilified by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, some penal reform groups and ultimately the committee. As Martin Narey the then Director General of HM Prison Service writes in his foreword, had the author not acted as he did to contain the regime's excesses it is likely that before long Parliament would have been calling for the resignations of Murtagh as Area Director, Narey as Area Director General and also the Home Secretary himself. "The Blantyre House Affair" is a telling example of how people can sometimes be swept along by events that may cause them to ignore those things that are counter or inconvenient to their own

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Review:

'I was emotionally gripped by this book as soon as I began reading the foreword by former Director General of the Prison Service, Martin Narey. His courageous introductory piece sets the scene for what follows - an absorbing and most disturbing account of events and controversy that began at one of the UK's less well-known (and happily less notorious) prison establishments in 2003, and then developed to engulf the author - Tom Murtagh - then area manager for the Prison Service in Kent, Surrey and Sussex... it reminds us of fragility of trust on which public service too often depends. Although Blantyre House is a relatively small story in the wider context of malversation in public life, it is one that deserves awareness by a wide readership - it is enlightening material for every student of public administration and should invite careful reflection by every committed practitioner in the public services (not just those in criminal justice)' --John Raine, University of Birmingham, Vista

'A strikingly interesting and well written book' --Justice of the Peace

Tom Murtagh's actions in managing Blantyre House 'not only preserved all that was good about the Blantyre regime . . . but may have saved my job and perhaps that of the Home Secretary.' --Martin Narey, Director of Barnardo's and former Director-General of HM Prison Service

About the Author:

Tom Murtagh spent his entire adult working life within HM Prison Service and the Northern Ireland Prison Service, completing almost 40 years' service in 2002. After beginning in England at Wormwood Scrubs he moved to Northern Ireland at the height of The Troubles. He spent three periods at The Maze Prison, including as Head of Security and later as Deputy Governor. He is a former Principal of the Prison Service College in Northern Ireland and served as Governor in charge of both Armagh Prison and Hydebank Wood Young Offender Centre in Northern Ireland and later Dover Young Offender Institution (YOI) in England. For most of his time in Northern Ireland he was a known terrorist target and frequently under police protection. He returned to England in 1988, mainly for security reasons. He became area manager for East Anglia in 1992 and later held a similar position in Kent, then for the Kent, Surrey and Sussex area. A former chair of the Prison Governors Association in Northern Ireland, he was awarded the OBE for services to the Prison Service in 1990.

About this edition

• Publisher: Waterside Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 190438031X
• ISBN 13: 9781904380313
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 216