4th June 2024
The Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Degrading Treatment (CPT) published details of their visit today (Tuesday, 4 June 2024) from 21 May to 31 May 2024. Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) welcomed the opportunity to engage with the delegation in advance to inform the visit, raising a number of serious concerns including overcrowding, accountability and mental health in prisons amongst other issues.
On this visit, the Committee examined the treatment of people deprived of their liberty in prison and their conditions of detention and assessed the situation of persons deprived of their liberty in the forensic mental health hospital and children in detention.
Speaking on the news of the visit, IPRT Executive Director, Saoirse Brady, said:
IPRT welcomes the visit by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture which comes during an all-out crisis in the Irish prison system. Only last Friday (31 May), the day the Committee concluded its visit, there were 436 more people in custody than there were beds with the prison population edging ever closer to a record 5000.
The Committee last visited Ireland in 2019 and was critical of prison overcrowding recording its concern about the number of people sleeping on mattresses on the floor and the lack of adequate and appropriate mental healthcare despite the clear needs of the prison population. While we haven't yet seen the Committee's findings for this visit, the particular focus on prisons is welcome and we are confident that they will reflect the deteriorating conditions across the estate. The CPT has repeatedly called on the State to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) and we once again call on this Government to follow through on its Programme for Government commitment to enact the Inspection of Places of Detention Bill as a matter of urgency.
We welcome that the Committee visited both the Dóchas Centre and Limerick Women's Prison at a time when more women are interacting with the criminal justice system than ever before. The Committee will have seen firsthand the stark contrast in facilities with Limerick being state-of-the-art with trauma-informed facilities. However, what both facilities have in common is the sheer level of overcrowding – these were the two most overcrowded prisons in the State at the end of last week. We need to question why so many women are being sent to prison, often for extremely short sentences with no possibility to engage with the wraparound services they need.
We also note as significant the Committee’s visit to Cloverhill prison, which primarily accommodates men held in pre-trial detention (remand). The high rate of remand is unprecedented, representing one in five people in custody. In addition, the CPT’s visits to Cloverhill and the High Support Unit (HSU) in Mountjoy Prison are notable given both recently featured in the Office of the Inspector of Prisons Thematic Report on Provision of Psychiatric Care in Prisons. Both cater for people with severe mental health needs and with increasing demand for the limited available spaces, the prison system struggles to cope with the number of people in custody requiring individualised psychiatric care. In this regard, we welcome that the CPT also visited the new Central Mental Hospital.
IPRT welcomes the constructive engagement that took place between the CPT and high-level stakeholders including the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee TD and Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler TD as well as senior officials within both their government departments and other key statutory bodies. This indicates the significance afforded to the CPT’s visit and we hope that these meetings were beneficial to all parties and will result in concrete and meaningful action to address the distressing state of our penal system.
We look forward to seeing the Committee’s report and recommendations in due course. IPRT continues to champion alternatives to prison as we believe that prison should only ever be used as a sanction of last resort.
As with previous CPT visits, IPRT expects that the report arising from the periodic visit will be both a crucial insight into current prison conditions and a key lever to drive reform, particularly at a time of unprecedented prison overcrowding.
ENDS
For all media enquiries, contact IPRT Communications Officer, Michelle Byrne, on communications@iprt.ie or 086 0433060.
IPRT Executive Director, Saoirse Brady, is available for further comment.
NOTES FOR EDITOR:
1. Council of Europe Committee on the Prevention of Torture and Degrading Treatment (CPT)
The CPT’s most recent visit to Ireland took place from 21 May to 31 May 2024. The delegation examined the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in prison and their conditions of detention, including Castlerea Prison, Cloverhill Remand Prison, Limerick Female Prison, Limerick Male Prison, Mountjoy Female Prison (Dóchas Centre) and Mountjoy Prison High Support Unit. In addition, they assessed the situation of persons deprived of their liberty in the Central Mental Hospital and young people in Oberstown Detention Centre.
Particular attention was paid to the measures taken by the authorities to implement recommendations made by the Committee after its previous visits, including as regards women in prison, prisoners held on restricted regimes, the provision of mental healthcare and deaths in custody. Full details of the visit are here.
The CPT reports on visits to Ireland along with the Government’s response are published here.
Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) prepared and submitted a detailed briefing in advance of the periodic visit to Ireland to inform the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). Given the confidential nature of the CPT’s work and the sensitivity of some of the matters raised in the briefing, neither the briefing itself nor an overview of its content will be made publicly available.
2. Prison Figures:
Today, Tuesday 4 June 2024, there are 4,947 people in prison custody, equating to the prison estate being at 110% capacity.
Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) is Ireland's leading non-governmental organisation campaigning for the rights of everyone in prison and the progressive reform of Irish penal policy.
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.