Local TD says Irish prisons “not the place for people who are mentally ill”

Padraig Conlon 25 Nov 2020

Dublin Mid West TD Mark Ward has called for immediate Government action after a report revealed that conditions experienced by some mentally ill prisoners “might amount to inhuman and degrading treatment.”

The report, conducted by The Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture, stated that high support units at Cloverhill, Cork and Mountjoy prison, which accommodate mentally ill prisoners, offered poor conditions and inadequate treatment.

“Reading parts of this report you may be forgiven to think you were reading about prisons in Ireland a 100 years ago,” Deputy Ward said.

“The fact is that The Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture only visited Irish prisons this year”

“One mentally unwell man was found lying naked in his cell, with the cell smeared with faeces and puddles of urine on the floor and a urine soaked poncho for cover.

“The committee found that the conditions that this man and another man were held in were inhuman and the treatment they received was degrading.

“Our prisons are not the place for people who are mentally ill and it should not take an inspection by a European Committee to highlight this.”

Deputy Ward, who is the Sinn Féin spokesperson for Mental Health, said he was joining the Irish Penal Reform Trust and calling on the Minister for Justice to engage with the Minister for Health with a view to the “early establishment of a taskforce” to resolve the matter.

The Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) conducted a visit of selected Irish prisons, Garda stations, psychiatric facilities, and social care settings between September 23 and October 4, 2019.

They included Mountjoy, Cloverhill, and Arbour Hill prisons as well as Store St, Clontarf and Mountjoy stations in Dublin.

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