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THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE The Committee for the Prevention of Torture found a mentally ill prisoner naked in his cell in an Irish prison, with feces and urine on the floor.
The CPT today published its report on its seventh periodic visit to Ireland, which took place from September 25 to October 4, 2019.
In all five prisons visited, inmates stated that the vast majority of prison officials treated them correctly.
However, a small number of prison officials are inclined to use more physical force than necessary and to verbally abuse prisoners, the committee noted.
The CPT also found that the current complaints system cannot be considered fit for purpose.
The committee noted that most of the people stated that they were treated corrected by gardaí when they were detained.
However, he said that there were several complaints of physical abuse and verbal disrespect on the part of pre-trial prisoners. These accusations mainly involved slapping, kicking and punching in various parts of the body.
Mental health
The Committee criticized the use of special observation cells (SOC) in prisons and called for their use to be reviewed.
At the time of the committee’s visit to Cloverhill Prison on September 29-30, 2019, a mentally ill man (identified as PM) was found naked in his cell, with the cell stained with feces and urine puddles on soil.
He had been handled in a SOC since September 17, waiting to be transferred to the Central Mental Hospital.
There were no blankets in the cell and his clothing, described in the report as a ‘poncho’, lay beside him, soaked in urine.
Prison officials explained that the door of the SOC was only opened with the protection of a shield to pass food to him.
During the time he was in the cell, he had not been given a shower or allowed to leave the cell.
PM was placed on bail by the Superior Court to a community psychiatric hospital on October 2, 2019. However, the CPT noted that he had not yet been showered prior to his transfer.
The CPT said that the condition in which this man was found, along with another inmate, could amount to “inhuman and degrading treatment.”
The CPT stated that the high support units at Cloverhill, Cork and Mountjoy jails, which house mentally ill prisoners, offered poor conditions and inadequate treatment.
He said that if the high support units in the three prisons are to provide a stepping stone to admission to a psychiatric hospital or a transition unit for the management of persons returned to prison from a psychiatric facility, it is essential that they be provided with the appropriate resources.
This is not the case currently, the CPT said, adding that a program of structured activities, including occupational therapy sessions, should be developed for inmates held in these units.
Another major concern of the CPT was the growing number of homeless people with serious mental health problems who end up in prison.
Immigration
The CPT found that detained immigrants continue to be held in Cloverhill Prison and other prisons, with pre-trial and convicted prisoners. He said that in some cases they are subject to abuse and intimidation.
The CPT has asked the authorities to establish a center specifically designed for detained immigrants with specific immigration regulations in accordance with the Committee’s requirements.
He has requested information on the conditions and regime of the immigrants detained pending the opening of said unit.
Reform
The committee acknowledged that the Irish authorities have taken steps since 2014 to reform the prison system.
He welcomed the fact that children are no longer incarcerated.
However, he noted that considerable challenges remain.
In particular, it recommended that steps be taken to address local overcrowding in prisons and ensure that inmates did not have to sleep on mattresses on the floor, and that all multi-occupancy cells were equipped with fully divided bathrooms.
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Reply
In its response to the report, the Irish government provides information on the steps that are being taken to address the issues raised by the CPT.
In particular, it refers to the ongoing reform process of An Garda Síochána and the various measures that are being taken to promote alternatives to incarceration and to ensure that prisons have sufficient capacity and can provide adequate conditions and regimes.
Reference is also made to a series of prison reviews in the areas of health care, including mental health, and the use of SOC, as well as the reform of the complaints system.
The government said that mental health in the criminal justice system is a top priority.
He said that the Minister of Justice is collaborating with the Minister of Health with a view to the early creation of a working group on the subject.
The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) is now calling on the government to act on the CPT’s recommendations in their entirety.
IPRT Executive Director Fiona Kennedy said:
“The conditions experienced by inmates who are unwell and with psychiatric distress are disturbing, disturbing and, in some cases, dehumanizing. The government must act now on its commitments and advance the interdepartmental working group on mental health, addictions and incarceration. This task force must be action-driven and prioritize diversion from the criminal justice system.
“This is the first published inspection report of a closed prison in Ireland since the previous CPT report in 2015,” he said.
“We should not have to rely on international visitors to find out what is happening in our prisons. The Inspector of Prisons has been under-resourced in recent years and the increase in budget allocation in 2021 is promising. However, the Inspection will only be truly effective when its powers are strengthened by law and the inspection reports are published directly.
“The Irish Prison Service committed to introducing a new complaints system this month, and the Ombudsman will take on a role in prisoner complaints within 12 months. This will be five years after the recommendation that prisoners can access the Ombudsman’s Office was accepted for the first time by the Minister of Justice in 2016, and should not be delayed any longer, ”said Ní Chinnéide.
The full report can be read here and the full response from the Irish government can be read here.
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