Roundup: Coverage of IPRT lecture on Solitary Confinement

6th August 2013

The 2013 IPRT Annual Lecture on the topic of"Solitary confinement: necessity, convenience or inhumanity?" took place on 23rd July 2013. The event highlighted the serious rights issues and concerns that surround the detention of prisoners on 23 hour lock up for significant periods of time, and the negative impact on the mental health of prisoners so held over long periods. Read more about the event here.

See below for media coverage of the issues and concerns raised.

IPRT Publications:

• Press Release: Overreliance of Irish prisons on prolonged solitary confinement will have long term negative consequences and must be addressed with urgency – IPRT (http://www.iprt.ie/contents/2538)
• Position Briefing: Solitary Confinement, Isolation, Protection and Special Regimes

Listen back:

• RTÉ Morning Ireland: 165 prisoners kept in isolation (22 July 2013)

Read more:

• Irish Independent: Call for limitations to lock-up (23 July 2013)
• thejournal.ie: Irish prison system ‘over-reliant’ on prolonged solitary confinement (23 July 2013)
• Irish Examiner: Calls for prison reform as extended lock-up damages mental health of prisoners, group claims (23 July 2013)
• The Irish Times: Prison service urged to reduce use of restrictive lock-up regimes (23 July 2013)
• Irish Mirror: Prisons chief admits number of inmates held in solitary confinement is unacceptable (22 July 2013)