Ireland has failed to implement long-standing recommendations of a committee against torture, “leaving behind some of the most vulnerable persons” in the State, a European body has said.
On Tuesday, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) presented the findings of its 2024 visit to Irish prisons at the Royal College of Physicians.
Gunda Wössner, second vice-president of the CPT, said that following the committee’s visit to Ireland last year, “the CPT has come to the conclusion the Irish authorities have failed to implement the long-standing recommendations of the committee, leaving behind some of the most vulnerable persons”.
Following this conclusion, she said the committee decided to engage in “high-level talks” with the justice and health ministries yesterday.
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In 2024 the CPT visited Castlerea Prison, Cloverhill Prison, Limerick Female Prison, Limerick Male Prison and Mountjoy Female Prison (Dóchas Centre), paid a targeted visit to Mountjoy Prison High Support Unit, and issued a report on its findings.
The committee found “long-standing issues” for prisoners in the areas of physical safety and ill-treatment, deaths in custody, overcrowding, restricted regimes, special observation cells and mental healthcare.
It found allegations of ill-treatment by prison staff have increased since 2019, with reports of abuse – including slaps, kicks and punches – occurring in Cloverhill Prison, and to a lesser extent in Limerick Prison.
There had been an increase of more than 1,000 inmates in these prisons since the CPT’s 2019 visit. Limerick’s new female prison was the most overcrowded prison in the country; it has an operational capacity of 28, but at the time of the visit held 73 prisoners. More than 100 inmates in various prisons did not have their own beds.
[ ‘Inhumane and degrading’ conditions contributed to 50% increase in prison deathsOpens in new window ]
A significant number of prisoners are being held in “a cell, a little bigger than a car parking space” with two or three other prisoners said the chief inspector of prisons in Ireland, Mark Kelly.
Mr Kelly said, “Ireland’s prison system has breached its capacity, and both the CPT and my office have found that significant numbers of prisoners are being held in inhumane and degrading conditions.
“One of them (a prisoner) is sleeping on a mattress on a floor and all three or four of them are sharing a space in close proximity to an unpartitioned toilet.
“They’re sleeping, they’re eating, they’re drinking, and for all bodily functions in that space, day after day, (it’s) inhumane and degrading.”
He said the Irish Prison Service (IPS) deserves credit. “It’s been among the first to sound the alarm about the deterioration of conditions.
“But the IPS is obliged to receive every prisoner who’s sent to it by the courts, and the director general’s options to relieve the pressure of the system through early release and other measures are virtually exhausted.
“Over many years, your committee (The CPT) has made recommendations which if implemented could radically improve the situation.
“You (the CPT) chartered the course that must be followed if Ireland is to rid itself of the scourge of overcrowding.”
