Prisons

Prison schools are set to reopen next week under the easing of Covid-19 restrictions in prisons. According to the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI), teaching staff can now access education centres to undertake preparatory work ahead of the reopening of prison schools from 19 April 2021.

A new government taskforce has been established to look at the mental health and addiction needs of prisoners both during and after their detention. Former minister Kathleen Lynch has been appointed as the independent chair of the high level taskforce, which will include representatives from a wide

Members of the House of Commons Justice Committee are “shocked and appalled” by the treatment of children at a privately run detention centre in Northamptonshire, they said in a report published today. The committee has called on the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to consider taking back

The £108 million redevelopment of Magilligan Prison has been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic but progress has still been made, Justice Minister Naomi Long has said. Magilligan is a medium- to low-security facility near Limavady which holds more than 450 male prisoners with six years or less t

Irish prison law expert Dr Mary Rogan has been appointed as president of the International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation (IPPF). An associate professor in law at Trinity College Dublin and a qualified barrister, she is one of Ireland's leading prisons experts, having worked with government bodie

The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) has called for a further investigation into a Facebook group for prison officers which allegedly includes racist and anti-Traveller material. The Irish Times reported last week that the Irish Prison Service (IPS) has again asked the social media giant to remove th

An online seminar on the Prison Rules is set to restart the Irish Penal Reform Trust's (IPRT) prison law seminar series for 2021. Co-hosted with the Irish Criminal Bar Association (ICBA), The Prison Rules: Current Impact and Opportunities for Reform will take place this Thursday 25 February at 4pm v

A long-delayed review into the care of vulnerable people in Northern Ireland's prisons is reportedly on track to be completed this summer. The review was first announced in 2016 after a series of deaths in custody and was subsequently passed in December 2018 to the Regulation and Quality Improvement

The positive changes rapidly made in Ireland's prison service during the Covid-19 pandemic are at risk of being reversed, the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) has warned. The penal reform body today published its fourth annual review of standards in Irish prisons, which welcomes the reduction of pris

Plans to allow Ireland to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) by 2023 form part of the prison inspectorate's first-ever strategic plan. The Office of the Inspector of Prisons yesterday published a three-year strategic plan for the period up to and including 2023, w

A small number of virtual prison visits will take place on Christmas Day this year, the Northern Ireland Prison Service has announced. The move follows the suspension of physical prison visits from midnight tonight under the latest Covid-19 restrictions.

Physical visits to Irish prisons will be suspended from midnight tomorrow under the latest Covid-19 restrictions. All physical visits booked after 24 December 2020 have now been cancelled and families have been urged to rebook a video visit.

The Court of Appeal has rejected a man’s argument that he was imprisoned for 24 hours longer than permitted. Upholding Mr Justice Seamus Noonan’s decision in the High Court, Ms Justice Máire Whelan said that the calculation of the term of his imprisonment was correct.

No prisoners will benefit from temporary release for Christmas this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Justice Minister Naomi Long has announced. In-person prison visits will be re-introduced over the holiday season, but the Christmas home leave scheme has been put "on pause".

The government has come under renewed pressure to ratify a UN treaty on torture following a critical report on conditions in Irish prisons, psychiatric facilities and social care homes. The Council of Europe's committee on the prevention of torture (CPT) yesterday published a report based on its vis