The Irish Prison Service says new accommodation is being built in Limerick that will increase capacity for female prisoners.

Some prisoners with a disability feel they are "punished" simply for their condition, while others report they are bullied by fellow inmates.

All too often people with complex and challenging needs end up in prison because it is the only service with no waiting list, a mental health expert has said.

The man was described as having filthy feet and a rare nail disease not seen in Ireland in decades.

A new report from the Irish Penal Reform Trust has raised concerns about the scale of overcrowding in many facilities.

The bulk of closed prisons are operating at unsafe levels, raising the risk of violence, according to penal reformers.

Almost half of all people released from prison in 2012 re-offended within three years, new figures show.

A radical overhaul of the Irish Prison Service (IPS) aims to improve staff safety and tackle overcrowding in Irish prisons.

There are fresh concerns about overcrowding in Irish prisons, with 45 inmates on average having slept on mattresses every night so far this year.

The number of people being sentenced to prison – in the main for relatively short sentences – needs to be “urgently reduced” before overcrowding levels become “unsustainable”, penal reformers have said.

Hard-hitting report comes after vulnerable prisoner died in cell

A new dedicated immigration facility at Dublin Airport is due to open in the coming months.

A group representing the families of murder and manslaughter victims has called on the Government to bring about changes that would mean killers are not eligible for parole until their minimum sentence has been served.

The number of people being sent to prison has halved in the last three years due to a massive reduction in the jailing of fine defaulters.

Penal reformers have welcomed the massive drop in people being jailed for non-payment of court fines — but are concerned at the rise in prison numbers caused by more committals for non-fine offences.

Ireland’s prison staff take an average of over 15 days sick leave a year.

The Irish Penal Reform Trust has welcomed a report showing significant improvements at the Oberstown youth detention facility, but said more effort was needed regarding restrictive practices involving children.

More than two-thirds of investigations into the deaths of vulnerable prisoners since 2012 have raised concerns about “misleading” or inaccurate record-keeping by prison staff, and the care afforded to inmates who have suicidal ideation and mental health problems.

New laws diverting fine defaulters from jail have driven a 40% drop in the number of committals to prison.

The establishment of an independent mechanism for the consideration of prisoner complaints, the development of mother-and-baby units within the Irish prison system, a reform of the parole system, and the replacing of fines with ‘victim surcharges’ are just some of the recommendations contained in a report, titled Penal Reform and Sentencing, published yesterday.

Ireland is in breach of its international human rights obligations by continuing to detain immigrants in prison and garda stations who have been refused entry to the country, a new report shows.