Overcrowding causes suicides and disease, claim prison officers

PERSISTENT overcrowding of Irish prisons is leading to higher suicide rates, aggression between inmates and the spread of infectious diseases, prison officers claimed last night.

Speaking on the eve of their annual conference, the president of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) Jim Mitchell said some institutions had twice as many prisoners as they should have.

He said it was ridiculous to talk about possibly rehabilitating prisoners in jails with 19th century conditions, including the use of toilet chamber pots in small cells shared with other inmates.