Young offenders are being verbally abused, denied basic rights and held in cold, filthy cells with broken toilets filled with excrement.

The following are some of the “very disturbing” breaches of prisoners’ fundamental rights at St Patrick’s Institution as outlined by Inspector of Prisons Judge Michael Kelly.

A “rigid, inflexible culture” and the persistent behaviour of a “small cohort” of prison officers has forced the authorities to scrap St Patrick’s Institution, the head of the Irish Prison Service has said.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter yesterday announced the closure of St Patrick’s Institution for young offenders in Dublin.

A military court acquitted a US Army officer of failing to control lower-ranking soldiers who humiliated and abused detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq during the autumn of 2003.

Army Private Lynndie England, the 22-year-old reservist who appeared in photos smirking amid naked prisoners at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison, stood at attention as she was convicted of taking part in abusing detainees.

US soldier Lynndie England, whose poses in photos of detainee abuse at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison made her the face of the scandal, was convicted last night by a military jury on six out of seven counts.

A US military judge tonight threw out Private First Class Lynndie England’s guilty plea to Iraqi prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, saying he was not convinced she knew that her actions were wrong at the time.

US soldier Charles Graner, said to be the ringleader of a band of rogue guards at Baghdad’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison, is facing up to 15 years behind bars today after being found guilty of abusing Iraqi detainees.

US army Sergeant Ivan Frederick was jailed for eight years today for abusing inmates in Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison.

A sergeant in the US army reserve pleaded guilty to five charges of abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison when a court martial opened at a US base in Baghdad today.

A US army reservist charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners is expexted to plead guilty at a Baghdad court martial today to four counts arising from the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.

Private Lynndie England, the American soldier seen in some of the most notorious photos with naked Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, is a new mother.

A US Army specialist was sentenced to eight months confinement today after he admitted abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib prison.

A US Army specialist pleaded guilty today to abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib prison – the first military intelligence soldier to stand trial in the scandal that has so far focused prison guard reservists.

A soldier already convicted in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal testified today that Private Lynndie England was a willing participant in creating the “human pyramid” of naked Iraqi detainees shown in infamous photographs.

Twenty-seven members of a United States military intelligence unit at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison either requested or condoned certain abuses of Iraqi prisoners there, an investigation concluded tonight.

Military prosecutors today dismissed three charges against a suspect in the abuse of prisoners at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison, significantly reducing the amount of jail time she could face if convicted

The US military judge hearing charges of prisoner abuse at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison today rejected a defence request for Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld to submit to an interview, but said he would reconsider if the defence could show a Rumsfeld link to the case.

One of the US Army reservists charged with abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib prison admitted at a pre-trial hearing today that he initially lied to a military investigator by saying he did not take part in the maltreatment.

US defence leaders were at least partly to blame for the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib and other prisons, failing to address overcrowding at the facilities and handing over supervision of prisoners to subordinates, according to a Pentagon report to be released today.

A US Army reservist charged with abusing Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison is to plead guilty to some offences.

A military judge hearing pre-trial evidence in the alleged abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison pressed the US government today to speed up its investigations, warning that delays could derail the case against at least one of the accused soldiers.

Four US soldiers charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison face pre-trial hearings before an American military judge in Mannheim, Germany today and tomorrow.

The US Army reservist who tipped off investigators to abuse of Iraqi prisoners by his fellow soldiers is in protective military custody because of death threats, family members said.

The lawyer for Lynndie England, the US soldier pictured in humiliating photos of Iraqi detainees, asked a judge today if he could call as a witness in her hearing the top US commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez.

Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison identified Lynndie England as one of the soldiers who abused them, an army investigator testified today.

Lynndie England was often sloppy at her paperwork job at Abu Ghraib prison because of illicit, late-night visits to the part of the facility where detainees were abused, her supervisor said today.

Prosecutors have portrayed US soldier Lynndie England as an out-of-control servicewoman who mocked Iraqi prisoners in photos “just for fun”.

Lawyers for Army Reservist Lynndie England claim she is being used as a scapegoat in the Iraqi prison abuse scandal, and they hope a military hearing this week will allow them to question senior officials they believe are responsible.