The Joy

by Paul Howard

One man's story of life in Mountjoy Prison - Ireland's most notorious prison - as revealed to journalist Paul Howard. This extraordinary life story tells it all. The desperate lifestyle of a junkie; bullying and savage beatings among the prisoners; ingenious drug-smuggling ploys; the despairing cry for help of a failed suicide attempt. But alongside the pain there is humour -- from the hilarity of World Cup celebrations to the distraction of a beautiful aerobics teacher, from bingeing on altar wine to the shortest-ever ""hunger strike."" The first ever glimpse of Mountjoy Prison -- from the inside.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1996

About the author

Paul Howard is a journalist with The Irish Times on Saturday.
Howard is best known as the author of the paper's Ross O'Carroll-Kelly columns and has written a series of books based on the the character of Ross.

Howard is the former chief sportswriter for the Sunday Tribune, and a former Irish Sports Journalist of the Year. He has written several nonfiction books, including The Joy, an account of life in Mountjoy Prison, The Gaffers: Mick McCarthy, Roy Keane and the Team they Built, an account of the McCarthy–Keane clash during the run-up to the 2002 World Cup. He also co-authored Steve Collins' "autobiography", Celtic Warrior.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unusually for prison memoirs, this one is not grimness to the nth degree but has its humorous moments too. The subject of the book, an uneducated working class lad, thoroughly owns his wrongdoing, stealing to get money for drugs. See Killing Season: A Paramedic's Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Opioid Epidemic. I'm contrasting this with A Bit Of A Stretch about a middle-class, very well educated man who was in for five years for a fraud, a crime he admits but claims ignorance of what was really going on.

I've read quite a few prison memoirs, guards, journalists going gonzo, lifers-who-didn't-do-it, the insufferable Jeffrey Archer's, chaplains and executioners. But I've never read one from the perspective of of someone who coming from a background where literacy was basic at best, where there was neither hope nor crime, just a nothing life of stacking shelves in supermarkets to look forward to.

It's really interesting, not least because the author, a journalist working from recorded conversations with the ex-con, has the knack of bringing an authentic voice to the man whose story he writes. I usually hate stream-of-consciousness but this is written so well, it took me along with it and was a very enjoyable and interesting read.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5 stars.*

This is journalist Paul Howard’s account of life on the ‘Inside’ in Ireland’s most notorious prison, Mountjoy, as told by a former prisoner via a series of taped interviews.

The account gives a real flavour of how it feels to be locked up, and of course to those of us not familiar with a prison, it’s definitely a shocking place to be, but this memoir does have some laugh out loud moments to lighten the mood too. An interesting read.

[Annette Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short but interesting account of life inside the Joy, Mountjoy, Irelands most famous prison. Written from a series of taped interviews with a former prisoner it gives a real flavour of the place and the problems prisoners face, especially with drugs and HIV.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely well written book by a local writer. Really enjoyed the humour used to tell the difficult story on one inmate in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin. There were laugh out loud moments and also stomach turning parts to the book. I think many of us live sheltered lives never even knowing the extreme conditions some people in our own city are living in. This book is an eyeopener, and such a good one I read it overnight.

[Jim Shanahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A true story of a wasted life, spent robbing to pay for heroin addiction, resulting in imprisonment and eventually death from AIDS, told anonymously. I read this as part of my research into crime writing. Not a fun read.

[Nicola Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A genuine and compassionate rendering of one person's story. The level of detail both provided comic relief and intensified some truly horrifying moments

[Aoife Chew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read and good insights into life in the Joy.