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Friday, 27 May 2022 19:48
The Auld Triangle is one of Dublin's best known songs - detailing life inside a prison - but it will take on an even deeper significance when it is sung tonight by men currently serving time in Mountjoy Prison.
Along with two Johnny Cash numbers, that song will be performed at a special concert in the chapel at Mountjoy, to be attended by the US Ambassador to Ireland.
Mountjoy Inhouse Voices is a choir made up of men serving time in the Progression Unit at the prison.
Governor of the unit, Donnacha Walsh, explained that these men are considered "well-behaved" prisoners who are drug-free, have shown a willingness to engage with the prison service and are making plans to re-enter the outside world.
Among the skills taught at the unit are customer service skills and it even has an in-house barista training programme, which aims to equip the men for jobs in the service industry when they have completed their sentences.
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Mr Walsh said the prisoners will have to seek employment and housing when they leave, and will need support to ensure they can build new lives and do not reoffend.
Having access to the choir has proven very useful, he said, in helping the men with self-esteem and performing in front of a crowd.
Two choir members were hugely enthusiastic about singing and the Johnny Cash performance.
One man, who sings solo on The Auld Triangle, said he had never sung before coming into prison, but that he received huge encouragement from his fellow choir members.
He described choir practice as "like meditation", and the best part of the week.
Another man said that many people who end up in prison do not have structure in their lives, and that prison and singing with the choir helps with that.
He would, he said, seek out other opportunities to sing and play music when his sentence is completed.
Accompanying the men tonight are the women of the Solas Workplace Choir, who have collaborated with them on many occasions.
It is 90 years since Johnny Cash was born, and tonight Folsom Prison Blues will ring out in Mountjoy in his honour.