Penal reform group to launch major report on solitary confinement

The Solitary Confinement in Prisons in Ireland report will be launched at an event in Dublin on the morning of Friday 2 February.

Professor Juan Méndez, former UN special rapporteur on torture, will be the keynote speaker at the launch, joined by report authors Dr Agnieszka Martynowicz and Dr Linda Moore.

The event will also hear from Michael O’Neill, head of legal at the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission; Martin Smyth, director of operation at the Irish Prison Service; independent socialist TD Clare Daly; and Professor Ian O’Donnell from UCD.

This report contains 25 key recommendations on the use of solitary confinement and restricted regimes in Ireland.

The IPRT seeks the abolition of solitary confinement in Ireland in the short term and the gradual elimination of the use of restricted regimes, with the target of 12 hours out-of-cell time daily for all prisoners.