18th November 2011
IPRT's Liam Herrick, today reported on the shelving of the Thornton Hall project, a development which was originally proposed with "no consideration of other options for addressing the problems in the prison system".
Although this 'super prison' would have been equipped with more modern facilities, Herrick reports that there was "little reason to believe that this new, larger prison system would have been any more successful than that which had preceded it".
The Government is now looking to improve conditions in Mountjoy by using funds to refurbish the prison and bring conditions of detention up to basic human rights standards. According to Herrick "this approach could deliver real improvements, even at a time of scarce resources".
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Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.