Padded cells to be refitted with window, TV

MENTALLY ill prisoners are to be held in newly refurbished cells containing a television and natural light.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell said on a visit to Cloverhill Prison yesterday that the €4 million programme to refurbish the prison system’s 33 padded cells was almost complete.

Old padded cells that contained only a mattress and four bare walls had been condemned under the UN covenant against torture and degrading and inhumane treatment.