Mentally ill inmate slept in jail car park

A MAN with psychiatric problems who was given temporary release from Cork Prison on Tuesday slept in the prison car park because he had nowhere else to go.

The man, believed to be in his 20s and from Cork, slept in the prison car park on Tuesday night.

He was spotted on a roof adjoining the prison on Thursday morning trying to regain entry to the prison.

According to a prison source, the man “said he had stayed somewhere out in the Carrigaline direction on Wednesday, but he didn’t want to remain there so he came back”.

The man had been kept in an observation cell in the prison before the decision was made to grant him temporary release.

It is understood that doctors had not granted permission for the man to be released but that the decision was made by prison authorities. The man is now back in Cork Prison.

A spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service confirmed the incident had occurred and it is now under investigation: “The director general [of the prison service] has ordered the governor [of the prison] to launch an investigation into the circumstances surrounding this matter. We cannot comment any further until the investigation is complete.”

A prison source told the Irish Examiner the man in question was in prison for burglary offences. However, he was being kept in a padded cell under observation due to significant psychiatric problems.

Following the incident, the man was placed back in the prison.

Amnesty International has long criticised Ireland’s criminal justice system as being completely inadequate to meet the needs of offenders with mental health problems.

The Irish Penal Reform Trust has pointed to inadequate services to assist prisoners when they are released, including a lack of assistance in finding a home, a job, addiction counselling or mental health services.