Fíona Ní Chinnéide

The penal reform body today published its fourth annual review of standards in Irish prisons, which welcomes the reduction of prisoner numbers and cell sharing since the start of the pandemic as well as the introduction of video calls and in-cell phone provision.

However, it also flags up IPRT’s ongoing concerns about the use of imprisonment, the mental health of prisoners and the high proportion of women among short sentence prisoners.

Speaking at the report’s launch, Fíona Ní Chinnéide, IPRT executive director, said: “At the outset of the pandemic, there were more than 4,200 prisoners in custody in Ireland. However, within one month of the pandemic being declared, the Irish Prison Service and the Department of Justice took action to reduce the prison population by 10 per cent to 3,807.

“A reduced prison population saw a near-end to prisoners sleeping on mattresses on floors and a move towards single-cell occupancy. Single-cell occupancy is a key measure in supporting men’s and women’s dignity in prisons.

“The Covid response demonstrates that the majority of closed prisons across the State were overcrowded and unsafe in the first instance. It also suggests that prison was not a necessary sanction for all of those imprisoned before the pandemic hit.”

However, she added: “These positive developments are already at risk of reversal as an oversubscribed courts system prepares to clear a backlog of cases. Furthermore, in recent years, the number of those held ‘on remand’ in our prisons is rising at a concerning level.

“Imprisonment is not the only sentence option in the criminal justice system. It should not act as shelter for people charged with low level offences. It should not be a waiting room for those who need treatment in our Central Mental Hospital. Covid has offered us a brown-field site for a more humane penal system. There should be no reversal of that.”