IPRT promotes a penal system that is: humane as experienced by people who are detained, protects and promotes human rights and equality, and strives to achieve international best practice in formal regimes, daily practices and overall culture.
It is the sentence of deprivation of liberty in itself that is the core punitive sanction, the conditions and treatment while in prison should not be used as additional punishment.
Accordingly, we believe that while restrictions on the freedom of movement are necessarily introduced while in prison, prisoners should retain all other rights to the greatest possible degree while serving their sentences. In particular, IPRT believes that prisoners have the right to be treated with dignity and respect for their rights; they have the right to safety and security of the person, the right to be treated humanely and be free from torture, degrading or inhuman treatment or punishment.
We work to ensure that regimes in prisons and children detention facilities are humane, and reflect human rights standards as a minimum in the short term, striving for international best practice in the medium to long term.
22nd August 2024
On 22 August 2024, IPRT held a fully subscribed 'Know Your Rights: Information, Advocacy and Remedies' conference, welcoming a wide variety of stakeholders to discuss access to and vindication of rights for people in prison.
26th May 2023
'Progress in the Penal System: A framework for penal reform (2022)' is the sixth in a series of annual reports benchmarking progress in Ireland's penal system.
5th August 2022
In total, the IPRT submission makes 36 recommendations on the Draft General Scheme of the Bill.
27th July 2022
MEDIA RELEASE: IPRT welcomed the clear focus by the UN Human Rights Committee on issues pertaining to people deprived of their liberty including prison overcrowding, access to adequate mental healthcare, the failure to publish reports relating to the Dóchas Centre, the overrepresentation of Travellers in the penal system and the need to ratify OPCAT.
15th July 2022
Following the third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Ireland, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has written to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in order to highlight areas requiring “particular attention” before Ireland’s fourth UPR cycle.
5th July 2022
Consideration and questioning of Ireland by the UN Human Rights Committee under ICCPR took place on 4-5 July 2020. Here, we summarise the main questioning relating to penal reform.
24th June 2022
IPRT statement on the publication of the General Scheme of the Inspection of Places of Detention Bill by the Minister for Justice on 24 June 2022.
30th May 2022
IPRT welcomed the opportunity to provide this alternative report to the UN Human Rights Committee on Ireland’s fifth review under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
27th May 2022
MEDIA RELEASE: The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) has welcomed the appointment of Mark Kelly as the new Inspector of Prisons and has called on him to prioritise the frequency of prison inspections when he takes up his new role.
9th May 2022
IPRT Senior Policy and Research Officer, Sarahjane McCreery, spoke with Senator Lynn Ruane on the 'Conversations on the Margins' podcast about the work of IPRT.
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.