Community option ‘is better than prison’
A report by the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CPT) said there was a “very real overcrowding” problem, particularly in the older jails.
The inspection report — some three and a half years since its last audit — said prison numbers had jumped from 3,150 in October 2006 to over 4,000 by January 2010.
Official figures show it has since reached 5,000.
The report said the greatest increase concerned prisoners serving sentences of less than six months, rising from around 3,000 in 2005 to 5,000 in 2008 out of a total of 8,000 committals.
It said research in Ireland found that 39% of these prisoners reoffend within two years of leaving jail.
“In light of figures attesting to multiple convictions of this group of persons in Ireland it would appear that imprisonment is not achieving its purpose in respect of these people.”
It said more might be achieved through community sanctions.
It did acknowledge that the Fines Bill would “significantly reduce” the number of fine defaulters sent to prison.
Elsewhere, the report said the majority of inmates interviewed said they were treated correctly by staff.
But it did receive allegations of verbal abuse (particularly in Cork from prisoners from the travelling community and foreign nationals, “on occasion of a racist nature”) and physical ill-treatment. These include:
nOn 30 June, 2009, four inmates in Portlaoise Prison suffered injuries “consistent with their allegations of having received punches and kicks to the face and body”
nOn 15 October 2009, a prisoner in Mountjoy claimed he was assaulted by several prison officers and repeatedly stamped and hit on the chest, arms and head. The report said photographic evidence in the medical records was “consistent with repeated injury to the chest wall”.
nOn 7 November 2009, a prisoner alleged an officer slammed a gate into his face and punched him. A hospital X-ray showed he had a fractured nose
The report said it had serious concerns at the standard of investigations that followed and that prison management appeared to be “reluctant to take action”.
