Launch: Monitoring of HIV, TB and HCV in prison in Ireland (report)

23rd June 2016

IPRT launched a new report on ‘Improving Prison Conditions by Strengthening the Monitoring of HIV, HCV, TB and Harm Reduction in Ireland’ on Thursday 23rd June 2016 in the Wood Quay Venue in Dublin.

Infectious diseases – in particular HIV, TB and HCV – are a major public health concern in prisons and places of detention. They are also a serious human rights concern. Several international and national human rights mechanisms are in place to monitor and inspect prison conditions in order to prevent torture and ill-treatment. However, issues relating to healthcare, and specifically infectious diseases, are not always a priority within monitoring practices. The European project “Improving Prison Conditions by Strengthening Infectious Disease Monitoring” aims at addressing this important gap in prison monitoring practices.

The Ireland report, European report, and monitoring tool are all available here.

Speakers at the event included:

• Catherine MacNamara (University of Limerick), one of the authors of the report (See presentation slides here.)
• Dr. Joe Barry, Clinical Professor in Public Health Medicine, Trinity College Dublin
• Emmett Conroy, prison nurse with the award-winning Irish Red Cross prison programme (See presentation slides here.)
• Inspector of Prisons, Judge Michael Reilly
• Mr Fergal Black, Director of Care and Rehabilitation, Irish Prison Service

Background:

Improving Prison Conditions by Strengthening the Monitoring of HIV, HCV, TB and Harm Reduction in Ireland was conducted by Catherine MacNamara, Lorraine Varley, Patricia Mannix McNamara of University of Limerick for IPRT. The report forms part of an EU co-funded project, led by Harm Reduction International, of which IPRT is the Irish partner.

Alongside the national report on Ireland, the event will also introduce the international report HIV, HCV, TB AND HARM REDUCTION IN PRISONS: Human Rights, Minimum Standards and Monitoring at the European and International Levels, along with a monitoring tool designed to assist prison monitoring mechanisms to generate better informed, more consistent and sustained monitoring of issues relating to HIV, HCV, TB in prisons.

The goal is ultimately to help prevent situations and conditions that can lead to ill treatment in this context from occurring in the first place.

For more information, contact Lorraine Whitty at info@iprt.ie or on 01-8741400

For media enquiries, contact Fíona Ní Chinnéide on 087-1812990

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This project is co-funded by the European Union under the Criminal Justice Programme.