From Policy to Practice: Mountjoy Female Prison: A Journey Towards Rehabilitation at the Dóchas Centre – 25 Years of the ‘Centre of Hope’

WICC2025 Presentation by Mary Kennedy and Donna Creaven (WICC2025-PID099)

Authors

Ms Mary Kennedy

Governor, Irish Prison Service, Ireland

Mary is the an Irish Prison Service Governor, currently assigned to Cloverhill Prison and formerly with the Mountjoy Female Prison (Dochas Centre). She graduated as a Registered General Nurse from in St Vincent’s Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin with first class honours. She also qualified with a Higher Diploma in Healthcare from RCSI; a Post Graduate Diploma in Healthcare Risk Management & Quality from UCD; and a Diploma in Law from the Law Society of Ireland with an award for constitutional law. More recently she obtained an advanced Diploma in Employment Law from the Honorable Society of the Kings Inns and Health and Safety certification from UCD.

Mary was a Chief Nurse Officer in the Irish Prison Service promoting best nursing practice from 2008-2018. She has appointed as an Assistant Governor since 2018 to Cloverhill and Mountjoy Prisons. In the Mountjoy Female Prison she managed a portfolio of healthcare, operational and rehabilitative regimes; risk and compliance; human resources; work and training; health and Safety. Mary has a special interest in human rights and custodial care. She is President of the Medico-Legal Society of Ireland, having previously served as Honorary Secretary.

Donna Creaven

Director of Corporate Services, Governance and ICT, Irish Prison Service, Ireland

Donna works as Director in the Irish Prison Service with the Department of Justice with responsibility for ICT, Corporate Services & Governance. Trained in law, IT, project and risk management, strategy, public administration and governance, Donna holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws LL.B from the National University of Ireland, Galway and a Masters in Management & Corporate Governance from the University of Ulster. She has completed a Professional Post Graduate Certificate in Data Protection Policy and Procedures in the University of Dublin and holds a Professional Diploma in Strategy & Innovation with the Institute of Irish Management through the University of Cork.

Donna served as member of the Board of Directors for Pobal until 2023, a company working on behalf of Government, managing funding and providing support for services in the areas of Social Inclusion and Equality, Inclusive Employment and Enterprise.

She is a Council Member with the Association for Criminal Justice Research & Development; a member of the European Organisation of Prison and Correctional Services ICT Expert Group and has participated in an Expert Working Group on Technologies for Prisoner Rehabilitation with the United Nation Interregional Criminal Research Institute. Donna recently took up position as Co-Chair of the ICPA Tech Network Group.

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